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Visualizing The Constructability Of A Steel Structure Using Building Information Modeling And Game Simulation, Mohammed Al Dafaay

Masters Theses

This research aims to visualize a steel structural design to: (1) analyze its constructability, and (2) support collaboration between project participants at the planning stage. The visualization uses Building Information Modeling (BIM) and game engine simulation to develop a realistic interactive simulation for constructability analysis. A case study experiment was conducted on visualizing the erection process of a steel structure to facilitate the understanding of needed construction operation. The simulation incorporated construction domain knowledge through various entity components and predefined interaction rules. Results showed that through such a visualization method, field operation can be observed in real-time at the planning …

Libya, The New York Times, And A Propaganda Model Of The Mass Media, Randy Laprairie

Masters Theses

This project derives a set of research expectations from the propaganda model, a structural model of the corporate news media developed by Edward S. Herman and Noam Chomsky. The model predicts that the news media will reflect elite views and priorities and marginalize views outside the range of elite opinion. Consequently, it is expected that the media will tend to support the elite’s preferred modes of exercising state power in international affairs. This often entails demonizing official enemies of the United States in order to justify military interventions while downplaying the crimes of the United States and its allies. To …

From The Romans To The Normans On The English Renaissance Stage, Lisa Hopkins

Early Drama, Art, and Music

This book examines the late sixteenth- and early seventeenth-century engagement with a crucial part of Britain's past, the period between the withdrawal of the Roman legions and the Norman Conquest. This was a period that saw both Arthur and Alfred, as well as Hengist, Horsa, and Canute. The country was converted to Christianity and saw successive waves of invasions by Angles, Jutes, and Danes, which left both a mark on the language and a record in the physical landscape. By its end, the British Isles had been transformed beyond recognition, and yet a number of early modern plays suggest an …

Social Support And Survival Strategies Of Older African American Grandmother Caregivers, Gaynell M. Simpson, Tracy D. Pressley, Dana L. Carthron, Kim Stansbury

GrandFamilies: The Contemporary Journal of Research, Practice and Policy

The effects of caring for grandchildren on grandparents’ emotional and physical well-being have become a significant area of focus in behavioral and medical research. Research suggests that African American grandmothers may experience increased mental and physical health challenges due to their caregiving stressors. To buffer the adverse influence of stress, caregivers often rely on informal social support from family and/or community members. In this study we explored older, African American caregivers’ management of their emotional well-being within the context and circumstances of available to minimal social support from family and community. During an 18-month period, seven caregiving grandmothers participated in …

A Necessary Evil?, Jessica Wetzel

Honors Theses

In this essay, I set out to prove that some of the medical experiments undertaken by Nazi doctors during World War II have scientific relevance in today’s scientific community. In the first section, the experiments connected with Dr. Karl Brandt will be examined in some detail allowing the reader to develop a basic knowledge of the experiments that will be discussed. This will also set the foundation for the discussion on scientific validity due to the nature in which they are described. In the second section, the results relevant to today’s scientific community will be discussed, proving that these horrific …

Cio Updates - 11/2017, Office Of Information Technology

Tech Talk

• Augmented Reality
• Educause Center for Applied Research (ECAR)
• Technology collaboration
• Bronco Safety

Passing The Nbcot Examination: Preadmission, Academic, And Fieldwork Factors, Sharon D. Novalis, Jill M. Cyranowski, Cathy D. Dolhi

The Open Journal of Occupational Therapy

All occupational therapy students are required to successfully complete the certification examination administered by the National Board for Certification in Occupational Therapy (NBCOT) before they can practice independently. The need to repeat the examination can result in stress, anxiety, and financial hardship. This paper explores the relationship of preadmission factors, academic and fieldwork performance, and demographic variables to successful first-time attempts on the certification examination for occupational therapists. Data were gathered from 144 student files in a Master of Occupational Therapy (MOT) Program at a single university. Of the sample, 82% passed and 18% failed their first NBCOT test trial. …

Joint Attention And Occupations For Children And Families Living With Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Scoping Review, Verna G. Eschenfelder, Christina M. Gavalas

The Open Journal of Occupational Therapy

Background: Research reports that children living with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) may demonstrate deficits in social, emotional, behavioral, and communication skills, which adversely affect social participation and occupational engagement. Joint attention skills constitute any nonverbal communication that captures the attention of another to create a shared interactional experience. The components of joint attention can be targeted through intervention to promote occupational engagement in childhood co-occupations.

Methods: A scoping review process was applied in the current study. Nineteen studies met the inclusion criteria to be analyzed through critical appraisal of topics and use of a matrix.

Results: Evidence indicates that joint …

Development Of The Daily Living Questionnaire (Dlq): A Factor Analysis Study, Sara Rosenblum, Naomi Josman, Joan Toglia

The Open Journal of Occupational Therapy

Background: Performance of daily activities and participation in life events involves higher-level cognitive abilities. The purpose of this study was to develop a self-report scale for detecting everyday difficulties in activities/participation tied with higher-level cognitive deficiency and to examine its reliability and validity.

Method: The Daily Living Questionnaire’s (DLQ) content and face validity were established. Internal consistency following an exploratory factor analysis, as well as construct validity, were initiated with a convenience sample of 194 healthy adults, aged 18 to 85 years, and 34 adults diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis (MS).

Results: The four factors received in Part A, activities and …

Cultivating New Ideas And Solutions In The Occupational Therapy Profession By Fostering Divergent Thinking, Diane Powers Dirette

The Open Journal of Occupational Therapy

No abstract provided.

Power-Efficient And Highly Scalable Parallel Graph Sampling Using Fpgas, Usman Tariq, Umer Cheema, Fahad Saeed

Parallel Computing and Data Science Lab Technical Reports

Energy efficiency is a crucial problem in data centers where big data is generally represented by directed or undirected graphs. Analysis of this big data graph is challenging due to volume and velocity of the data as well as irregular memory access patterns. Graph sampling is one of the most effective ways to reduce the size of graph while maintaining crucial characteristics. In this paper we present design and implementation of an FPGA based graph sampling method which is both time- and energy-efficient. This is in contrast to existing parallel approaches which include memory-distributed clusters, multicore and GPUs. Our …

Social Media In Big Business: An Autoethnography, Anna Rudisill

Honors Theses

The purpose of this thesis is to understand the perceptions and experiences of those who professionally work with social media. While there is a plethora of research done on the impact and importance of social media in big businesses, there is a lack of information regarding those who create the content. This thesis is framed as an autoethnography, as I describe my personal experiences working with social media in a large corporation. To further my research, I also interviewed two colleagues about their experience. Through my research I found that social media employees go through a specific process when being …

15-06 Integrated Crowdsourcing Platform To Investigate Non-Motorized Behavior And Risk Factors On Walking, Running, And Cycling Routes, Ala Al-Fuqaha, Sepideh Mohammadi, Jun-Seok Oh, Valerian Kwigizile, Fadi Alhomaidat

Transportation Research Center Reports

There are several factors on the roads that impact bicyclists’ safety. This research aims to find the most important risk factors on roads, mainly in infrastructure facilities, to improve the safety for walkers, runners, and bicyclists. Most mobile cycling applications currently used by cyclists and runners were reviewed in this study in order to gain insight about the features that users care about. Features, such as speed, cumulative elevation gain, and connectivity to Google Fit, were found to be the most common features in the widely-used cycling apps. In this research, we developed and launched a mobile application for crowd-sourcing …

15-01 Effect Of Cycling Skills On Bicycle Safety And Comfort Associated With Bicycle Infrastructure And Environment, Jun-Seok Oh, Valerian Kwigizile, Kapseong Ro, Ahmad Feizi, Brent William Kostich, Raed Abdullah Hasan Hasan, Fadi Abdallah Mousa Alhomaidat

Transportation Research Center Reports

This study seeks to improve the methodology for determining the relationship between cycling dynamic performance and roadway environment characteristics across different bicyclists’ skill levels. To achieve the goal of this study, an Instrumented Probe Bicycle (IPB) equipped with various sensors was built. A naturalistic field experiment, including intersections, roundabout, alignment changes, and different road surface conditions, was conducted. Two self-reported questionnaires were used in order to obtain each participant’s skill level as well as perception on the level of cycling comfortability. The Cycling Comfortability Index (CCI) was derived from the probabilistic outcome of an Ordered Probit Model, which describes the …

The Disperata, From Medieval Italy To Renaissance France, Gabriella Scarlatta

Research in Medieval and Early Modern Culture

Rich with morose invectives, the Italian lyric genre of the disperata builds toward a crescendo of despair, with the speakers damning and condemning their beloved, their enemy, their destiny, Fortune, Love, and often themselves. Although Petrarch and Petrarchism have been amply analyzed as fertile sources for late Renaissance poets in France, the influence of the Italian disperata in this context has yet to receive proper scholarly attention. This study explores how the language and themes of the disperata - including hopelessness, death, suicide, doomed love, collective trauma, and damnations - are creatively adopted by several generations of poets from its …

15-10 Development Of Multi-Class, Multi-Criteria Bicycle Traffic Assignment Models And Solution Algorithms, Seungkyu Ryu, Anthony Chen, Keith Christensen, Keechoo Choi

Transportation Research Center Reports

Cycling is gaining popularity both as a mode of travel in urban communities and as an alternative mode to private motorized vehicles due to its wide range of benefits (health, environmental, and economical). However, this change in modal share is not reflected in current transportation planning and travel demand forecasting modeling processes. The existing practices to model bicycle trips in a network are not sophisticated enough to describe the full cyclist experience in route decision-making. The purpose of this paper is to develop a multi-class and multi-criteria bicycle traffic assignment model that not only accounts for multiple user classes by …

Scholarworks Annual Report 2016-17, Maira Bundza

ScholarWorks Repository Information

The fiscal year report on WMU's institutional repository ScholarWorks includes statistics, projects, status of journals published in the IR, colleges served, usage statistics, staffing, decision making, connection to university and library strategic plans.

Development Of A Novel Printed And Flexible Surface Enhanced Raman Specopy (Sers) Substrate For Detection Of Cocaine, Farah Mazin Aljanabi

Masters Theses

In this thesis, the author focuses on the design and fabrication of a novel surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) substrate that could potentially be employed for the detection of illicit drugs. Raman spectroscopy based optical detection has been extensively employed as a qualitative and quantitative analytical method.

The author has worked on two research projects, which are both focused on the development of printed SERS substrate for the detection of cocaine. The first project is based on gravure printing of silver nanoparticle (AgNP) based ink on flexible and stretchable thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) substrate. The fabricated substrate dimensions are 1.5 × …

Implementing The Primary Care Behavioral Health Model In A Pediatric Setting: Description, Satisfaction, And Potential Economic Outcomes, Rachel A. Petts

Dissertations

There is growing support for the value of integrating behavioral health consultants (BHCs) into primary care medical offices to address mental and behavioral health concerns; however, the actual practice of BHCs in pediatrics and associated patient and provider experience is largely unknown. Descriptive data from patient contacts with three BHCs in a large pediatric primary care practice examined the nature of, and patient and provider satisfaction with, the integrated behavioral health services provided. Over the course of 6 months of data collection, 109 patient contacts were recorded. The mean age of the patients served was 9.51 (SD = 4.38, …

Education And Nutrition Problems In Rural China, Rong Shi

Dissertations

The increasing inequality between rural and urban China has raised many concerns for Chinese scholars. A large gap exists not only in income but in health and education. The rural-urban disparities in health and education may contribute to greater income inequality in the future, thus leading to a vicious cycle. This study explores the factors that contribute to the increasing inequality in health and education between rural and urban China.

Using a randomized controlled trial in Shaanxi province, the first chapter studies the effectiveness of a supplemental meal program in improving students’ development outcomes. This study also compares the impact …

Dangerous Deals: A Case Study Of Nafta As A Criminogenic Policy, Daniel J. Patten

Dissertations

This study examines the creation of a criminogenic policy, NAFTA, and its subsequent social harms that primarily impacted poor rural farmers and indigenous people in Mexico. Previous research into state-corporate crime has focused on crimes committed by one state and one corporation, while little research has investigated the commission of crimes by more than one state operating in collusion. Previous research on human rights violations has emphasized genocide and physical integrity rights, while this study raises attention to “lesser” human rights violations such as abusive working conditions, lack of political participation in policy formation, and limited access to clean air …

Effects Of Historical Story Telling On Student Understanding Of Nos And Mendelian Genetics, Cody Tyler Williams

Dissertations

Science education researchers have long advocated the central role of the nature of science (NOS) for our understanding of scientific literacy. NOS is often interpreted narrowly to refer to a host of epistemological claims associated with the process of science and the limitations of scientific knowledge. Despite its importance, practitioners and researchers alike acknowledge that students have difficulty learning NOS and that this in part reflects how difficult it is to teach. Many teachers are uncomfortable with taking time away from traditional science content instruction. One promising method for teaching NOS and science content involves an explicit and reflective approach …

Sex Differences In Serotonergic And Dopaminergic Mediation Of Lsd Discrimination In Rats, Keli A. Herr

Dissertations

After decades of opposition, a resurgence of interest in the psychotherapeutic potential of LSD is gaining acceptance in the medical community. Future acceptance of LSD as a psychotherapeutic adjuvant may be predicated on knowledge about its neural mechanisms of action. Preclinical drug discrimination assay offers an invaluable model to determine the neural mechanisms underlying LSD’s interoceptive stimulus effects. Unfortunately, current preclinical literature on LSD discrimination is based on results obtained exclusively in male subjects. The present study represents the first known preclinical assessment of possible sex differences in the discriminative stimulus effects of LSD.

Adult female (n=8) and male (n=8) …

Dielectronic Recombination Calculations For Silicon-Like Ions And The S2+ Orion Nebula Abundance Conundrum, Jagjit Kaur

Dissertations

Modern astronomical spectroscopy and imaging data are of an unprecedented quality, and span the full electromagnetic spectrum. To take full advantage of these data and successfully model the physical conditions in and elemental abundances of astrophysical plasmas, an accurate and complete description of relevant atomic processes occurring in a wide range of cosmic environments is required. The primary focus of this project is to investigate one of the atomic processes, dielectronic recombination (DR), for the entire silicon-like isoelectronic sequence. Dielectronic recombination is generally the most important contribution to the total recombination rate of atomic ions. This study will serve as …

Employing Multivariate Logistic Regression Analysis To Better Understand The Relationship Between Individuals’ Anthropogenic Climate Change Acceptance And Belief In Anti-Climate Change Dissenter Messages, Andrew Phillip Keller Bentley

Dissertations

Organized climate change dissention groups spend a considerable amount of time and energy developing messages designed to convince the public that anthropogenic climate change is neither a reality nor a threat. These messages work against the efforts of climate educators and can be divided into two categories; messages that provide alternative explanations for warming, or messages that attack the work of scientists studying anthropogenic climate change. There has been a lack of research regarding any correlation between individuals’ agreement with these messages and their rejection of anthropogenic climate change. Establishing a correlation would be an indication that educators should take …

Coping And Africultural Adolescents, Britne R. Amos

Dissertations

The present study explored approaches to coping among Africultural, college students between the ages of 18 and 22 years. Coping strategies applied to Africultural adolescents and young adults have been studied from a majority culture, adult lens. In this context, Africultural is used to refer to people of self-identified African descent including and not limited to people who identify as African American (e.g., parent(s) were born in America, individual was born in America), of African descent and living in America (e.g., parents were born in Africa, individual was born in Africa), mixed African American and another ethnic group including Latino/a, …

Evolution Of Caffeine Biosynthetic Enzymes And Pathways In Flowering Plants, Ruiqi Huang

Dissertations

Convergent evolution generally refers to the independent evolution of similar biological function more than once in unrelated species. Caffeine is thought to have evolved by convergence, and is naturally produced through secondary metabolism in plants to defend against pathogen attack and insect feeding or to attract pollinators. The same caffeine biosynthetic pathway has been elucidated in Camellia (tea) and Coffea (coffee), in which xanthosine is sequentially methylated to caffeine via 7-methylxanthine and theobromine. However, although the same catalysis pathway is used, different (paralogous) enzymes in the SAMT/BAMT/theobromine synthase (SABATH) multigene family are used in the two species. In my dissertation, …

Best Practices For Differentiated Learning Among Third Through Fifth Grade Ell Students, Tara J. Macias

Masters Theses

With the increase of second language English learners in U.S. kindergarten through twelfth grade schools and the continued achievement gap between these students and English speaking students, educators and administrators need to develop, implement and support best practices for differentiation among English Language Learners. ELL students are often categorized as special education students while their only barrier to learning is language acquisition. On the other hand, ELL students may have additional learning difficulties that are not identified because there is an assumption that language acquisition is the single challenge to their learning. Educators often engage in whole group instruction with …

An Analysis Of The Metal Finds From The Ninth-Century Metalworking Site At Bamburgh Castle In The Context Of Ferrous And Non-Ferrous Metalworking In Middle- And Late-Saxon England, Julie Polcrack

Masters Theses

This thesis opens with an investigation of the evidence for blacksmithing and non-ferrous metalworking in Anglo-Saxon England during the Middle- and Late-Saxon periods, c. 700-1066. The second chapter of this thesis focuses on knives and non-ferrous strap-ends during this period in order to discern any regional distinction in metalworking from the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Northumbria. I initially conjectured that Northumbrian knives and strap-ends would show stylistic differences from knives and strap-ends made in other Anglo-Saxon kingdoms, but in this chapter, I conclude that Northumbrian metal objects were homogenous with the assemblages from the remaining kingdoms. In the final chapter of …

Williams Syndrome And Music: A Systematic Integrative Review, Donovon Thakur

Masters Theses

Researchers and clinicians have often cited the curious relationship between individuals with Williams syndrome and music. This review aimed to systematically identify, analyze, and synthesize research and findings related to Williams syndrome and music. Thirty-one articles were identified that examined this relationship and were divided into seven areas by their findings. This process covered a diverse array of methodologies, with aims to: 1) report current findings; 2) assess methodological quality; and 3) discuss the potential implications and considerations for the clinical use of music with this population. Collecting and analyzing available research on the relationship between Williams syndrome and music …