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Investigating The Effect Of An Immersive Extracurricular Stem Program On Underrepresented And Disadvantaged High School Students' Self-Efficacy, Science Anxiety, And Career Aspirations, Nikki Mertz

Dissertations

This mixed methods study was designed to assess how an immersive extracurricular STEM program affected a student’s self-efficacy, science anxiety, and career aspirations. This study utilized the SIC-STEM survey to quantify student self-efficacy in science and the STEM Semantics survey to quantify student interest in STEM. Both surveys also assessed student interest in pursuing careers in STEM. The Science Anxiety survey was used to evaluate how student anxiety in science changed throughout the study. A subject matter survey was utilized to quantify student understanding and comprehension of an advanced science topic. Focus groups were used as the qualitative piece to …

Exploring The Utility Of Geostationary Satellite Observations In Air Quality Studies, Peiyang Cheng

Dissertations

The air quality community uses numerical models for air quality forecasting and establishing regulatory policies. However, the prediction of clouds and the estimation of emissions remain highly uncertain, limiting the credibility and usefulness of model results. This study explored how Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES) observations can be used to reduce the uncertainty in air quality simulations. The major findings are summarized as follows. First, assimilating the GOES-13 cloud products into a numerical weather prediction model improved the agreement between model-predicted and satellite-observed clouds by 3.5%. Model surface insolation bias and error were reduced by 7.1 W m^–2 (13.1%) …

Accuracy Improvement Of Dynamic Sensors Measured Input Reconstruction Using Sliding Mode Observers, Rajesh Rayala Jayasheelareddy

Dissertations

Sensor dynamics adversely affect the accuracy of the obtained measurement by dynamically distorting the true value. The accuracy of the measurement may be further degraded by noise/exogenous perturbations. A sensor’s accuracy and performance are improved by reconstructing the true input signal of the sensor from the distorted measurement polluted by a corruption signal or exogenous inputs using Sliding mode and Higher-order sliding mode observer (SMO/HOSMO). The proposed technique is used to reconstruct/estimate a sensor’s true signal, thereby improving the transient response and driving the estimation steady state error to zero in finite time. The proposed SMO algorithm is based on …

Development Of An Explainability Scale To Evaluate Explainable Artificial Intelligence (Xai) Methods, Stephen Mccarthy

Dissertations

Explainable Artificial Intelligence (XAI) is an area of research that develops methods and techniques to make the results of artificial intelligence understood by humans. In recent years, there has been an increased demand for XAI methods to be developed due to model architectures getting more complicated and government regulations requiring transparency in machine learning models. With this increased demand has come an increased need for instruments to evaluate XAI methods. However, there are few, if none, valid and reliable instruments that take into account human opinion and cover all aspects of explainability. Therefore, this study developed an objective, human-centred questionnaire …

Selecting And Composing Cyberattack Component Models, Katia P. Maxwell

Dissertations

Modern society is increasingly reliant on computer systems for nearly all aspects of life, and the security of those systems has become an urgent concern. A research program that consists of several interconnected research projects in cybersecurity modeling has to date included the definition of a form of Petri nets extended with additional features specific to modeling cyberattacks, the automated generation of executable cyberattack component models from an attack pattern database, formal representation, and machine learning of attacker and defender strategies during cyberattacks, and the verification and validation of the component models. Because computer systems targeted in cyberattacks may have …

Constraining Intrinsic Properties Of Gamma-Ray Bursts From Core-Collapse Supernovae And Neutron Star Mergers, Rachel Hamburg

Dissertations

Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are ultra-relativistic jets produced by either the core-collapse of massive, stripped envelope stars (i.e., "collapsars") or the merging of compact binary objects, such as neutron stars. GRBs are among the most energetic transients in the Universe, yet despite over 5 decades of study, a full description of their intrinsic energetics remains incomplete. This is primarily due to a combination of cosmological, relativistic, and observational effects that have impeded obtaining GRB redshift measurements and robustly associating GRBs with their progenitors. In this dissertation, I study source-frame properties of GRBs from collapsars and binary neutron star (BNS) mergers. In …

An Investigation Of The Impact Of Canadian Wildfires On Us Air Quality Using Satellite, Model And Ground Measurements, Zhixin Xue

Dissertations

In recent years, frequent and widespread wildfires in Canada have become the “new normal” during summer, which degrades the U.S. air quality significantly. Smoke from wildfires in British Columbia and Alberta can be transported by northwesterly winds to the U.S. and cause health issues to vulnerable populations, which also increases the health costs to the country. During the fire season, daily PM2.5 in cities along the smoke transport path in the United States can increase 5 to 10 times compared to pre-fire values. This research examined different processes affecting smoke's vertical and horizontal transport and quantified the increase in fine …

The Case For Alternate Media Requirement Expressions In Systems Engineering, Jason Kolligs

Dissertations

“Requirements” are often presented as a necessary, if not mandated, component or tool of the systems engineering process. Despite their place in engineering, low quality requirements are the first potential mistakes of an engineering project and their effects are potentially felt downstream in the form of increased costs and schedule overruns. Innovations to improve requirements engineering have historically omitted the requirement media. This research provides the rationale and process heuristics to include alternate media requirement expressions within systems engineering which shifts accountability to higher context requirement expressions that may require less cognitive load while decreasing effort and schedule thereby potentially …

Reuse Considerations For Successful Complex Systems Integration, Logan Grumbach

Dissertations

As systems have become increasingly complex, engineers are relying on reuse of components and subsystems as a method to curb complexity. However, integrating these reuse components and subsystems have historically often resulted in catastrophic failures. Technical principles key to integration success and the role of reuse in these principles are not currently defined. The objective of this research is to, first, derive and validate a set of technical integration principles and subsequently to explore how incorporating reuse impacts integration success. This research uses historical system integration data and a combination of qualitative analysis techniques and quantitative techniques to draw conclusions …

Culturally Responsive School Leadership In Continuation High Schools: An Alternative Approach In Leadership Styles, Roberto C. Portillo

Dissertations

Continuation high schools and the students they serve are often invisible and ignored to most Californians. However, state school authorities estimate that over 115,000 California high school students will pass through one of the state's 519 continuation high schools each year, to either graduate with a diploma, or to drop out of school altogether (Austin & Dixon, 2008). Principals in these schools must be exceptional and well prepared. However, principals have been trained to implement culturally responsive school leadership at their sites. Eight continuation high school principals described their experiences regarding their preparation, supports, challenges and successes in implementing culturally …

A Study Of The Language Shifts In The Book Of Daniel : A Comparative Narrative Analysis Of Daniel 1 And 2, 7 And 8, Laura K. Morrow

Dissertations

Problem

The problem this dissertation seeks to address is the use of bilingualism in the book of Daniel. Previously, scholars have utilized diachronic methods to explain the phenomenon of bilingualism in Daniel and have concluded that it is the product of compositional redaction. However, such studies have not produced a consensus in scholarship. In the last 40 years, several studies have emerged that conclude the use of bilingualism in the book of Daniel may best be explained as a rhetorical device. In contrast to the diachronic methodologies of prior studies, these examinations utilized methodologies that addressed rhetorical elements. Chapter One …

An Investigation Of Mathematics Self-Efficacy, The Sources Of Mathematics Self-Efficacy, And Mathematics Achievement Among Primary School Students In Trinidad And Tobago, Ronald Sinanan

Dissertations

Purpose of the Study

This dissertation addressed two problems in the literature. Firstly, while many study findings have highlighted the critical role of self-efficacy in students' achievement, additional research was needed about the four hypothesized sources that influence the improvement of students' mathematics self-efficacy. Many studies on self-efficacy sources were conducted with measures not closely tied to social cognitive theory and have not demonstrated sufficient reliability. Using the Sources of Mathematics SelfEfficacy Scale, Usher and Pajares (2009) addressed this problem. They suggested several recommendations for future research (Usher & Pajares, 2008b, 2009), including exploring the validity of their scale in …

"You Must Prophesy Again": The Mission Of God's People In Revelation 10-14, Adenilton Tavares De Aguiar

Dissertations

The primary task of this study was to delineate the theology of mission in the book of Revelation, with a focus on chaps. 10–14 and special attention to the people of God as participants in the mission of God. The historical survey demonstrated that the theology of mission conveyed by the book of Revelation is a topic broadly neglected in recent scholarship and, hence, requires an in-depth treatment. The object of research was addressed from a biblical-theological perspective by means of an exegetical analysis of relevant passages and key terms that were identified on the basis of a semantic field …

Isaac Newton As A Prophetic Interpreter, Kenneth Jørgensen

Dissertations

Throughout his life, Sir Isaac Newton was deeply dedicated to the science of decoding biblical apocalyptic writings. To understand and appreciate Newton's prophetic scheme, it will be advantagous to have a certain grasp of what sources and ideas might have influenced him. No comprehensive study before this one has helped us see Newton from that perspective. A survey of the development of canonical apocalyptic hermeneutic and interpretation, beginning before the time of Christ and ending with Newton, shows that four distinct systems of hermeneutics had developed by that time. Historicism was the earliest and the preferred system among Protestants until …

Vicks In The Classroom: A Study On The Effects Of Teacher Cultural Awareness On Hispanic/Latinx Student Discipline, Arthur A. Maldonado

Dissertations

With the booming Hispanic/Latinx populations nationwide, particularly in the state of California, the disproportionate disciplining of this student population for minor infractions such as defiance is an issue that has persisted for many decades. Therefore, to better inform this phenomenon, a historical perspective and critical look into the cultural awareness of teachers was examined throughout this research. The purpose of this mixed-methods study was to examine the relationship between middle school teacher cultural awareness and the disciplining of Hispanic/Latinx students in the schools being studied. The findings in this study reveal cultural perceptions from teachers that current body of research …

A Transformative Framework To Investigate The Influences Of Chineseness On Chinese International Students’ Learning Experiences On U.S. College Campuses, Wenjin Guo

Dissertations

This study applied a mixed-methods, social-justice approach to explore how Chinese international students interpret their success and/or challenges influenced by their Chinese forms of community cultural wealth in their academic learning at a predominately White Catholic university in the Midwest of the United States for over one year. I adopted a transformative paradigm to guide my study. Since the reviewed theoretical frameworks solely failed to form a profound comprehension of how Chineseness influenced Chinese international college students, I analyzed essential components of socio-cultural and critical race theories and created China as Method as the framework to guide my study.

This …

Things Of Beauty: Aesthetics For Environmental Education, Annie Schultz

Dissertations

As environmental crisis looms large, most agree that human reeducation is necessary in order to improve our relationship to the natural environment. Yet, there is currently no comprehensive interdisciplinary philosophy of education for environmental awareness. While there is writing in the field of philosophy of education on ecologizing education and literature which draws connections between aesthetic education and the appreciation of nature, there is little literature on the explicit ways in which aesthetic and art education can inform environmental justice initiatives. This dissertation examines aesthetic and art education’s relationship to the environment and how aesthetics can inform a moral relationship …

Defending Gender: Transprejudice As Gender System Maintenance, Linas Mitchell

Dissertations

The high levels of interpersonal and policy-based discrimination that transgender people face can be understood as a way of responding to transgender threats to gender systems. By understanding gender as a system of meaning and power, I apply System Justification Theory to interpret transprejudice as a form of gender system maintenance that may be influenced by one’s position in the gender system (gender) and general support for the status quo (conservatism). The present studies test whether transprejudice functions as a form of system affirmation/threat rejection. I found that exposure to system threat did not lead to greater transprejudice than a …

Things Of Beauty: Aesthetics For Environmental Education, Annie Schultz

Dissertations

As environmental crisis looms large, most agree that human reeducation is necessary in order to improve our relationship to the natural environment. Yet, there is currently no comprehensive interdisciplinary philosophy of education for environmental awareness. While there is writing in the field of philosophy of education on ecologizing education and literature which draws connections between aesthetic education and the appreciation of nature, there is little literature on the explicit ways in which aesthetic and art education can inform environmental justice initiatives. This dissertation examines aesthetic and art education’s relationship to the environment and how aesthetics can inform a moral relationship …

Facing The Mass Exodus: Reconsidering The Moral Responsibilities For And Obligations Toward Large Numbers Of Refugees In An Age Of Global Crises, Muhammet Ali Asil

Dissertations

The global refugee crisis has revealed an essential moral question regarding helping the forcibly displaced persons in protracted refugee crises: how do we determine if our community has done “enough” for a particular refugee group? Different answers have been provided to this question. This dissertation takes up this question from a normative standpoint. It develops an ethics-based burden-sharing model, that is, a “meaning-based model,” as a method to determine our political communities’ moral duties toward different refugee groups in various refugee crises. The model challenges the conventional wisdom by claiming that not every community has the same moral obligations toward …

An Ethics Of Doctrinal Emergence: Reading Newman With Augustine And Contemporary Information Theory, Jeffrey John Campbell

Dissertations

Jeffrey J. CampbellLoyola University Chicago AN ETHICS OF DOCTRINAL EMERGENCE: READING NEWMAN WITH AUGUSTINE AND CONTEMPORARY INFORMATION THEORY The aim of this essay is to begin the process of a reconfiguration of the theological category of doctrinal development and to integrate an “emergent doctrinal ethics of belief” as an inextricable dimension of this category. Most scholarly writing on doctrinal development has taken place in the wake of the Enlightenment with its focus on epistemology, and doctrine is conceived of as “referencing” a quasi-metaphysical “res.” I attempt to “update” the guiding metaphors of doctrinal development with the goal of moving discussions …

An Interpretive Phenomenological Study Of Women’S Struggles, Hopes And Reasons For Participation In Professional Power-Based Community Organizing In Chicago, Mary Dungy-Akenji

Dissertations

Mary K. L. DungyLoyola University Chicago AN INTERPRETIVE PHENOMENOLOGICAL STUDY OF WOMEN’S STRUGGLES, HOPES AND REASONS FOR PARTICIPATION IN PROFESSIONAL POWER-BASED COMMUNITY ORGANIZING IN CHICAGO Professional power-based community organizing is a practice of grassroots change in which paid organizers guide community members as they band together to make demands on elite groups to redistribute resources (Bobo et. al, 2001; Sites et al., 2007). Conflict-based tactics may be utilized to demand structural improvements from key stakeholders, usually towards progressive political ends that build towards a more just society (Bobo et. al 2001; Wilkinson & D’Angelo, 2019). Community organizing has some roots …

Molecular Mechanisms Of Oxidative Stress-Induced Corneal Damage And The Use Of Antioxidants And Therapeutics, Anita Kirti Ghosh

Dissertations

Dry eye disease represents an urgent unmet clinical need. This dissertation explores the underlying pathophysiological mechanisms of ocular surface disease in small and large animal models and provides feasibility for the development of antioxidants as novel therapeutics for dry eye disease. Dry eye disease affects 50 million Americans every year, and costs about $55 billion annually in the USA. The disease manifests as ocular irritation, burning, foreign body sensation, and blurry/cloudy vision. While it is widely accepted that oxidative stress plays a critical role in the pathophysiology of the disease, little is understood about the underlying molecular mechanisms. The purpose …

A Phenomenological Study Of Catholic Priests Working And Headteachers In Government - Funded Catholic Secondary Schools, Joseph Kaye

Dissertations

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this qualitative phenomenological study is to explore the skills, behaviors and lived experience of priests who are headteachers in government-funded Catholic secondary schools in Butare Catholic diocese. This study might help the bishop and diocesan policy makers in identifying the type of formation, skills and behaviors priests need to be effective headteachers in Catholic schools. To achieve the purpose of this study, I used a phenomenological methodology to collect and analyze the data. The participants in this study are priests who are headteachers in government-funded Catholic secondary schools of Butare Catholic diocese. The major goals of …

Imagining Otherwise: Designing And Implementing A High School Writing Center, Sheldon Cale Krieger

Dissertations

This study explored the work of planning and opening a new high school writing center in a school with a student population predominantly of students of color. The action research study occurred over the first twelve weeks of the writing center opening to better understand how such work might begin to disrupt oppressive systems and structures inherent in the school site as well as education at large. The arts-based methodology included daily reflective journals, a series of four collages, and document analysis. The study utilized critical imagining as its theoretical framework by combining tenets of critical race theory (CRT) with …

Las Chingonas: An Ecological Approach To Latina Student Mothers’ Journey Through College, Emely Elizabeth Medina-Rodriguez

Dissertations

Women with children are one of the growing student sub-populations in higher education. However, the support student mothers receive in colleges and universities has been historically unreliable and their experiences in college have not been studied in depth. This is especially true for student mothers from minoritized backgrounds with differing racial, ethnic, sexual, gender, and ability identities. This research aims to understand the experiences Latina graduate student mothers from an ecological and critical perspective. Guided by Critical Human Ecology and Black Feminist Thought, eight open-ended interviews were conducted and analyzed. Themes and categories came out of the patterns in the …

Unlocking Desistance: The Role Of Executive Functioning In The Rehabilitation Of Correctional Populations, Danielle Nesi

Dissertations

In a secondary analysis of data collected by Fishbein and Sheppard (2006), the current study sought to explore the relationships among age, executive functioning and antisocial behavior (e.g., changes in institutional infractions, self-reported aggression and reactivity) among a sample of incarcerated men enrolled in a correctional Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) program between 2003 and 2005. Specifically, the current study examined whether baseline executive abilities predicted misconduct and whether this relationship was mediated by treatment engagement. The relationships among age, treatment engagement, and changes in executive functioning post-treatment were also considered. It was predicted that improvements in executive functioning would vary …

Leveraging Moral Foundations To Increase Covid-19 Vaccination, Cara Elizabeth Ray

Dissertations

Despite the vast majority of the eligible U.S. adult population being vaccinated against COVID-19, geographical clusters of unvaccinated individuals pose a substantial risk of outbreak. It is important to encourage as many individuals as possible to vaccinate against COVID-19 to reduce its spread and severity. Past research has identified endorsement of the purity and liberty moral foundations – intuitive domains of moral concern – as predictors of vaccine hesitancy and political conservatism, while conservatism is itself associated with vaccine hesitancy. Across two online surveys, I examined the effects of a message invoking the purity and liberty foundations as well as …

Healing Earth In A Time Of Crisis: Curriculum For Integral Ecology, Caleb Steindam

Dissertations

This intrinsic multiple case study examined secondary- and university-level educators’ experiences teaching with Healing Earth, a curriculum developed by the International Jesuit Ecology Project at Loyola University Chicago, which merges scientific, social, spiritual, and ethical analyses of pressing ecological issues. Based on the conceptual framework of integral ecology, Healing Earth is a response to Pope Francis’s (2015a) call for “a new way of thinking about human beings, life, society and our relationship with nature” (§215).

This study primarily consisted of in-depth interviews with educators who have used Healing Earth in a variety of secondary and post-secondary Catholic educational contexts. A …

Turn Not Thine Eyes: Holy Faces, Saving Gazes, And The Theology Of Attention, Jacob W. Torbeck

Dissertations

Jacob W. TorbeckLoyola University Chicago TURN NOT THINE EYES: HOLY FACES, SAVING GAZES, AND THE THEOLOGY OF ATTENTION Theoretical Theologies and Practical Theologies have historically been contrasted with one another as distinct but connected disciplines, a contrast with roots in the figures of Plato and Aristotle, or Mary and Martha. Over the centuries, with the increasing ability of theologians to specialize, theoretical theologians have accused practical theologians as ignoring spiritual realities, while practical theologians have accused theoretical theologians of ignoring material realities. This dissertation puts forward a theological exposition of the notion of contemplative attention that demonstrates the unity and …