Digital Commons Network^™

Begin To Play: The Case For Play In Community Engagement In Higher Education, Naomi B. Roswell

Spect-actor: A Journal of Pedagogy & Theatre of the Oppressed

Although little is written about the role of play in community engagement in higher education, professors and administrators intuitively grasp its value in building trust and democratizing spaces, but use games thinly. This paper acknowledges the challenges of developing effective community engagement partnerships and demonstrates how and why games based in Theater of the Oppressed deepen and enhance initiatives to dissolve town / gown divisions and enable collaborative knowledge generation. Through an analysis of literature reviews and interviews, this paper makes a case for deliberately incorporating games from Theater of the Oppressed (TO) - to advance community engagement initiatives by …

Minutes Of Graduate College Committee On Curricula, October 5, 2020, University Of Northern Iowa. Graduate College Curriculum Committee.

Minutes - Graduate Curriculum Committee

Minutes of the committee that oversees the development of the curriculum of the University of Northern Iowa Graduate College.

Iowa Waste Reduction Center Newsletter, October 2020, University Of Northern Iowa. Iowa Waste Reduction Center.

Iowa Waste Reduction Center Newsletter

Contents:

--- IWRC Begins Work on New Rural Development, USDA Grant
--- WRC Welcomes New Student Intern: Meet Elle Olthoff
--- Iowa Strategic Goals Program to Host Upcoming Webinars
--- Industry News

Sacrificial Seed’S Impact On Native Seedling Establishment In Prairie Restoration, Jacey Meier, Isabella Betzer, Laura Jackson

Summer Undergraduate Research Program (SURP) Symposium

Tallgrass prairie used to cover Iowa and much of the midwest– now only a small percentage of it remains. Many prairie restoration efforts are in place, but native prairie seed prices are high and seedling establishment is low. We tested how inexpensive sacrificial seed impacts the establishment of native seedlings. After planting a field with native prairie seed, we marked out six test plots and applied treatment (sacrificial seed) to three of them. We counted and evaluated the number of emerged seedlings per m2 after 4.5 months. We saw no differences in emerged seedlings per m2 between the plots with …

Levels Of Cyclin B In Thp-1 Cells Incubated In Hibernating And Non-Hibernating Bullfrog Plasma, Lithobates Catesbeianus, Tharuka D. Pathmaperuma

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

Hibernation is a process that occurs in nature where organisms undergo dormancy for long periods of time in order to improve their survival during extreme environmental conditions. During this time, organisms undergo physiological changes such as reduction in core body temperature and metabolic rate, as well as cells being impeded from going into mitosis. Alvarado et al. (2015) discovered that genomic DNA methylation is dynamic across torpor-arousal bouts during winter hibernation in thirteen lined ground squirrels (Ictidomys tridecemlineatus), indicating that physiological changes during hibernation are the results of more than simply cold temperatures slowing down metabolism and that …

Carbon Sequestration And Weedy Invasion In Crp Fields, Destiny Danielle Magee

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

The Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) aims to provide ecosystem services in landscapes dominated by agriculture by converting previous agricultural fields into reconstructed prairies and wetlands. The main priorities of the program include reducing soil erosion and improving water quality, but the perennial vegetation in the fields can also provide other benefits such as increased carbon sequestration and biodiversity. These additional benefits of the program are not closely monitored, though these benefits are potentially equally valuable to the targeted program benefits. This study compared soil carbon in CRP fields and a subset of corn fields in order to determine the impact …

Characterizing Protagonists In Graphic Novels For Teens, Danielle Lahr

Graduate Research Papers

The purpose of this study is to utilize qualitative content analysis to examine the main characters in teen graphic novels from 2018. This study is designed to analyze the main protagonist in graphic novels to find patterns to help secondary librarians and teachers choose graphic novels that will appeal to students in grades 9-12. Three questions this study asks are: 1)What traits make a compelling protagonist for high schoolers? 2)Are there any traits shared between protagonists in graphic novels? And 3)What roles do protagonists of graphic novels play in the storyline?

Culture In Transitional Chapter Books: Assimilation Or Inclusion, Jeanette P. White

Graduate Research Papers

In the context of schools experiencing an influx of students from a more diverse range of cultures, and with a goal of assisting librarians to better serve these students, this qualitative research focuses on the presence of cultural diversity in transitional chapter books and, when present, identifies whether characters modify culturally determined behaviors. The cultural diversity within books, especially transitional chapter books, can allow newly independent readers an opportunity to deepen their identification with and connection to reading. The value of identifying with a character in a book is established in prior research (Alter, 2016; Goodale, 2012; McNair & Brooks, …

Caregivers' Perceptions Of Literacy Toolbox For Children In Foster Care, Raelynn Meade

Honors Program Theses

At any given time, there are about 443,000 children in foster care system in the United States (Morton, 2015). When children reside in a home that lacks temporary stability or safety, foster care is a family-supported service to ensure children are placed in safe and stable homes (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, n.d.). At no fault to their caregivers, 35% to 73% of children in the foster care system experience language delays. This occurrence is significantly higher than the 6% to 15% seen in children who are not raised in foster care (Krier, Green, & Kruger, 2018; Stock …

Editing Fusarium Graminearum Using Crispr/Cas9, Grace Marie Sack

Honors Program Theses

Fusarium graminearum is a pathogenic fungus that causes scab or Fusarium head blight disease in barley and wheat. Alternative approaches to protect barley from this devastating disease are badly needed. In recent years, an RNA-guided genome-editing system known as clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeat and CRISPR-associated protein 9 (CRISPR/Cas9), has become a popular method for genome modification (Jinek et al., 2012). We applied CRISPR/Cas9 technology in an effort to make F. graminearum less infectious. We used CRISPR/Cas9 plasmids constructed by a former UNI student (Akers, 2019) to mutate three genes in F. graminearum. One of the genes ( …

Association Between Wild Bee Communities And Floral Resources In The Conservation Reserve Program, Allison Eagan

Honors Program Theses

Due to the significance of the plant-pollinator relationship, the loss of pollinators may impose widespread effects on plant communities. Pollinator declines raise questions for the future of agricultural productivity, food security, and human health. Due to the large diversity of the wild bee population and their essential role as pollinators of natural land and agricultural crops, implementing conservation practices are necessary to preserve decreasing populations. Previous conservation efforts have been limited to planting native flowering forbs in unused fields or hedgerows bordering farms and roadsides in order to establish sufficient floral resources. However, restored prairies have the ability to support …

Identification Of Genome-Linked Bacillus Bacteriophage Proteins, Katherine Dyer

Honors Program Theses

Small viruses that can infect bacteria, called bacteriophages, can be found in the soil. These viruses are being examined as a potential treatment against bacterial infections when antibiotics are not available or non-effective. Before viruses can be used as a medical treatment, they must be studied extensively. Previous attempts to sequence the terminal end of the genome of a bacteriophage QCM-11 (Quartz-Crystal-Microbalance-11: Q11) resulted in error. It is thought that a covalently bound protein may be attached to Q11’s DNA, blocking sequencing of the genome from the 5’ end. Proteins bound to the DNA of phages is not unheard of, …

Seasonal Habitat Usage Of Iowa Wood Turtles (Glyptemys Insculpta), Amanda Stewart

Honors Program Theses

Iowa wood turtles (Glyptemys insculpta) were tracked using radio telemetry to compare juvenile, male, and female habitat usage during specific seasonal activity periods. Field data collected included: time, geographic location, habitat type, surrounding vegetation type and abundance, ambient weather conditions, turtle body temperature and mass, water depth (when aquatic), distance from water, behavior category, and amount of exposure to UV light. While active in 2017 – 2019, the wood turtle population at three Iowa sites was 53% terrestrial and 47% aquatic, with the most frequent respective habitats being emergent clearings (grasses, forbs, saplings) and lotic (river, stream, creek). …

Respiratory Differences In Spontaneous And Scripted Speech Among Bilingual Adults, Anna Irene Sagan

Honors Program Theses

This investigation explored respiratory differences between a speaker’s first language (L1) and second language (L2) during spontaneous and scripted speech in six adult bilingual speakers (two native bilingual speakers and four non-native bilingual speakers). Respiratory kinematic data using Respitrace respiratory inductance plethysmography and acoustic recordings were collected during five tasks: tidal breathing at rest, scripted speech in L1, spontaneous speech in L1, scripted speech in L2, and spontaneous speech in L2. Results indicated a significant interaction effect between proficiency and syllables produced during spontaneous speech, but no other significant differences were found among inspiratory/expiratory duration, task, proficiency or language. The …

The Presentation Of Race At Mark Twain Historical Sites In Hannibal, Missouri, Anthony Wayne Birch

Graduate Research Papers

Hannibal, Missouri may not be among the top five or even the top three places to visit, but it is surely getting its share of tourist and revenue. Each year an estimated 350,000 tourists from across the United States and many from around the world visit Hannibal, Missouri to pay homage at the Mark Twain Boyhood Home and Museum Annex. The Mark Twain Boyhood Home and Museum is located on 206-208 Hill Street, and has been accessible to the public as a museum since 1912, and has been registered as a National Historic Landmark since December 29, 1962.¹ In …

Richard Walther Darré, National Socialism, And Bauernpolitik, Andrew P. Harnois

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

Richard Walther Darré joined the National Socialist German Workers Party in 1930 at the behest of Adolf Hitler and was Germany’s Reichsminister of Agriculture from 1933 to 1942. Darré was recruited by Hitler because of his Blood and Soil ideology. This ideology was peasant-centric and argued that the German peasant embodied the ideal racial form and pushed for a rebirth of German agriculture.

This thesis examines the career of Richard Walther Darré and focuses on two questions: first, what role did Darré’s Blood and Soil ideology play in his rise and removal from power; and, second, does Darré’s fall from …

Indices Of Metabolic Stress Following Resistance Exercise, Steven Alexander Long

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

The purpose of this study was twofold: 1). to evaluate the metabolic responses to varying volume load (VL), manipulated through relative training intensity and 2). to evaluate the metabolic response to training via direct and indirect methods to assess the application potential of non-invasive methods. Recreationally trained male weight lifters (n = 11) volunteered to participate in this resistance training (RT) study. During three separate testing sessions, participants completed three sets of repetitions of the barbell bicep curl exercise to technical failure with short inter-set rest intervals (60 seconds). Participants were randomly assigned one of three training intensities immediately prior …

Challenging Social Systems Under The Threat Of Pollution: Replication And Extension Of Eadeh And Chang (2019), Dylan J. Pieper

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

I replicated and extended Eadeh and Chang (2019; Study 2) who found that reading a story about pollution harming a child increased self-reported liberalism and increased support for environmental regulation policies through greater negative affect (i.e., anger and disgust) (Hypothesis 1). Eadeh and Chang’s (2019) threat-affordance model posits that perceived threat can increase greater support for liberalism or greater support for conservatism, depending on the type of threat. In contrast, Jost and colleagues’ (2003) system justification theory posits that perceived threat asymmetrically predicts greater support for conservatism and greater systemsupporting collective action. This article advances a synthesis of these two …

Effects Of Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids On Mental Health, Lauren Mcmichael

INSPIRE Student Research and Engagement Conference

Depression, bipolar disorder, Alzheimer's disease, and Parkinson's Disease may be associated with dietary imbalances currently seen in the average Western diet. The increase in intake of omega-6 fatty acids is a point of concern, as evidence links disproportionate intake with inhibited neural membrane function and increased inflammation. This paper reviews evidence related to problems associated with decreased omega-3 fatty acid intake in the average Western diet. Evidence connects omega-3 supplementation with alleviation of symptoms of depression, bipolar disorder, and defiant behavior. Further research may be warranted regarding the degree of omega-3 deficiency in given populations of interest, such as the …

Mercyone Therapy Rooms, Natalie Bohnsack

INSPIRE Student Research and Engagement Conference

My poster will be about my volunteer work with MercyOne along with information regarding occupational therapy. I will discuss the tasks I completed at MercyOne and what I observed while in the therapy area. In addition, I will include a section about what occupational therapy is. I will do research on food therapy since that is a useful technique occupational therapist utilize and I believe others should be educated on. At the end, I will include my future plans to become a pediatric occupational therapist.

Cedar Bend Humane Society Pre-Professional Experience, Cassidy Crosser

INSPIRE Student Research and Engagement Conference

Cedar Bend Humane Society is an animal shelter in Waterloo, Iowa that helps cats, dogs, and small pets find permanent homes. CBHS offers over a dozen different services to the public; these services include spaying and neutering, microchipping, and group visits for school aged children. I adopted my dog, Scooby, from CBHS in 2018 and he exhibited some undesirable behavior, which inspired me to focus my attention on how to extinguish avoidance-motivated aggression.

The Positive Impacts Of Service Dogs On Individuals With Disabilities, Madison M. Simon, Natalee M. Hart

INSPIRE Student Research and Engagement Conference

This poster presentation examines multiple research studies justifying beneficial effects of service dogs on persons with physical and mental disabilities. To better understand the positive effects of service dogs and their capabilities, a comprehensive literature review was conducted to recount firsthand validation where their assistance has been valuable to these individuals. With over fifty million people in the United States currently living with a disability and that number rapidly increasing, the need for assistance with daily tasks can be achieved with the intervention of a service dog (Iezzoni, 2011). Existing research supports the benefits of service dogs for individuals with …

Loch Ness Monster And Her Impact On Culture, Mariah Piippo

INSPIRE Student Research and Engagement Conference

The Loch Ness Monster is a creature of unproven existence that lives in Loch Ness. Scholars have found references to Nessie since c. 500 CE. In May 1933, a new road was built creating new visibility and increasing sightings. The monster became popular, and people began watching for the creature along the coast. Travelers became inspired to visit in hopes of seeing Nessie. Experts explain the brain makes leaps to comprehend incomplete information. The Loch Ness Monster has increased tourism for decades, and many people still have hope that there are unimaginable creatures in the dark parts of our planet.

Csbs Kudos, Spring 2020, University Of Northern Iowa. College Of Social And Behavioral Sciences.

CSBS Kudos

Contents:

--Greetings
--Faculty Accolades
--Awards
--Appointments and Promotions
--Retiring
--In Memoriam
--INSPIRE Showcase
--#panthercaucus
--Women's History Month
--Teaching Iowa History Project Nationally Recognized
--Northern Iowa Gerontology Nursing Home Art Box Project
--Student Accolades & Awards
--Congratulating Our Spring 2020 Graduates

Characterization Of A New Mtdna Minicircle In A Chewing Louse, Geomydoecus Aurei, Ashley L. Campbell, Dino Bolic, James W. Demastes, Theresa A. Spradling

Research in the Capitol

The mitochondrion, an organelle responsible for generating cellular energy, is unlike the majority of organelles in animal cells. Because of its symbiotic origins, the mitochondrion contains its own genetic information (mtDNA) that is predominantly maternally inherited. In most animals, the mitochondrial DNA is arranged in one circular chromosome containing 13 protein coding genes, 22 tRNAs and two rRNAs. In Geomydoecus aurei, a chewing louse, these same genes have been disbursed among at least 13 independent minicircle chromosomes. We have worked to map this atypical genome to gain insights into its development and to further understanding of genomic rearrangements in this …

Research Activity At Uni During Coronavirus Pandemic, March 24, 2020, University Of Northern Iowa

UNI Response to COVID-19

A memo from the Associate Vice President of Research & Innovation addressing how research activity, including laboratory work, should be conducted during the COVID-19 outbreak.

Stem Stories, March 2020, #2, Brooke Wiese

STEM Stories

Undergraduate Research - Andrew Rust

Issues Of Accessibility In Victim Services For Survivors With Disabilities: An Agency Assessment, Sara Naughton

Graduate Research Papers

In fulfillment of the requirements for the University of Northern Iowa’s Women’s and Gender Studies Applied Track Master’s Degree, this paper includes research conducted during a 200-hour internship experience with Cedar Valley Friends of the Family, consisting of three sections: a background paper, the agency report, and reflection. The research conducted for this project was done so utilizing a manual and scoring tool provided by the Vera Institute of Justice in order to measure Friends of the Family’s capacity to effectively serve survivors and clients with disabilities, as well as suggestions for short and long-term improvement.

Animal Rummy [Grades K-1], Regents’ Center For Early Developmental Education

Sharing STEM: Math Games

No abstract provided.

Exploring Light & Shadow With Infants And Toddlers [Infants-Toddlers], Regents’ Center For Early Developmental Education

STEM Experiences for Classrooms

No abstract provided.