Digital Commons Network^™

Semiparametric Estimation With Clustered Right Censored Data Via Multivariate Gaussian Random Fields, Fathima Zahra Sainul Abdeen

Doctoral Dissertations

Consider a fixed number of clustered areas identified by their geographical coordinate that are monitored for the occurrences of an event such as pandemic, epidemic, migration to name a few. Data collected on units at all areas include time varying covariates and other environmental factors that may affect event occurrences. The event times in every area can be independent. They can also be correlated with correlation between two units induced by an unobservable frailty. In both cases, the collected data is considered pairwise to account for spatial correlation between all pair of areas. The pairwise right censored data is probit-transformed …

Wind Flow Characteristics Of Multi-Vortex Tornadoes And Their Wind Effects On Residential Houses, Yi Zhao

Doctoral Dissertations

"Tornadoes strike the USA very frequently, with an average of 1200 reports per year, and the average annual tornado-induced property loss has reached $10B. The devastation from recent tornadoes have prompted a renewed interest in better understanding tornado dynamics, their interactions with the built environment, and the performance of civil structures during tornadoes. In the past, the wind effects caused by single-vortex tornadoes have been widely studied, while the multi-vortex tornadoes were rarely considered. In fact, many previous deadly, costly tornadoes involved multiple vortices. Therefore, it is important to understand the wind flow characteristics of multi-vortex tornadoes in order to …

Practices Of Instructional Leaders Which Support And Monitor Implementation Of Individualized Education Plans And Influence Teaching In Inclusive Classroom Settings, Pamela D. Williams

Doctoral Dissertations

This qualitative case study was designed to learn more about how the practices of instructional leaders support and monitor the implementation of Individual Education Plans (I.E.P.s) and influence teaching in inclusive classroom settings. It was designed to explore a sample of general educators’ and administrators’ perceptions about the challenges they face to remain in adherence to obligations bound by duty to deliver I.E.P. services as outlined by the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). The selected participants were twelve middle school general educators and administrators from two school districts in northwest Louisiana chosen through purposive sampling. The primary data collection …

Graphene Nanoscroll Field-Effect Transistor-Based Radiation Sensors, Joshua B. Joffrion

Doctoral Dissertations

Carbon nanomaterials have excited both academia and industry with their extraordinary electronic, mechanical, optical, thermal, and chemical properties for over forty years, providing opportunities for significant advances in fundamental and applied science and leading to the development of disruptive technologies and applications. While graphene and carbon nanotubes have been at the forefront of research, a relatively new one-dimensional carbon allotrope, graphene nanoscrolls, will likely play significant roles in future technologies. Graphene nanoscrolls have structures similar to carbon nanotubes with a key difference in that they are not seamless – there are exposed edges along their lengths. As such, they share …

Assessing Employees’ Perceptions Of The Frequency And Intensity Of Workplace Interpersonal Conflict In Lateral And Hierarchical Dyads, Matthew Shayne Castillo

Doctoral Dissertations

Workplace interpersonal conflict has been identified as a potential major source of stress for several occupations. Occupational stress literature concerning this stressor reveals that interpersonal conflict can have adverse outcomes for organizations including absenteeism, turnover, and workers’ compensation claims for psychological injury. Accordingly, researchers have developed measures aimed at capturing perceptions of workplace interpersonal conflict to remediate and prevent it in organizations. Although workplace interpersonal conflict has received considerable attention, there is little research assessing perceptions of conflict from a dyadic perspective in lateral (coworker-coworker) and hierarchical (supervisor-subordinate) relationships between supervisors and non-supervisors. This is important because conflict may be …

Assessing Gender Bias In Student Evaluations Of Teaching In Collegiate Aviation, Kary M. Randall

Doctoral Dissertations

Student evaluations of teaching (SET) are commonly used to assess teaching effectiveness and influence personnel decisions in higher education. This quantitative study sought to determine if gender and years of teaching experience were related to SET ratings for collegiate aviation faculty. Constructs evaluated related to gender stereotypes and consisted of expressiveness and immediacy as stereotypically female and professionalism and openness as stereotypically male. The overall rating was also analyzed as a fifth construct. Evaluation ratings from 54 participants associated with nine Aviation Accreditation Board International affiliated institutions were analyzed for the 2017 to 2020 academic years. Findings from the two-way …

Science Instructional Leadership Knowledge: A Qualitative Case Study, Mary Ann Chapman

Doctoral Dissertations

This qualitative case study aimed to investigate instructional leaders’ depths of science content knowledge and pedagogical content knowledge and how their depths of that knowledge supports effective instructional leadership. Implementation efforts around the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) have highlighted the need for science instructional leaders to have in-depth content and pedagogical knowledge to function as effective instructional leaders in secondary science classrooms across the United States. Semi-structured interviews with 19 teachers and instructional leaders in a public high school in the southern United States informed the study. The findings revealed that teachers expect instructional leaders to have higher levels …

Fostering Effective School-University Partnerships Within Teacher Preparation Programs: Lessons From Leaders In A Qualitative Case Study, Morgan Elizabeth Fitch

Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this qualitative study was to discover crucial elements that serve as the foundation for developing effective, sustainable school-university partnerships within teacher preparation programs. This study employed an instrumental case study guided by the distributed leadership theory to understand the operational leadership process of developing and sustaining a school-university partnership within a teacher preparation program. Data from this study consisted of partnership leader interviews and essential partnership documents. Findings of this study included the following: leaders recognize personnel with defined roles within the partnership, leaders believe open communication is vital to the partnership, leaders perceive a positive relationship …

Racial Discrimination From A Self-Determination Lens, Lindsey Shamp

Doctoral Dissertations

Despite significant advances toward equality, racism and discrimination have been a central feature of America’s culture. This inequality has been presented from the history of slavery to the present-day violence against unarmed Black men. Oppression and inequalities have led calls to action from the African American community and activist groups including the Black Lives Matter Movement. Many White individuals are unaware of the existing benefits of their Whiteness and are simultaneously unaware of the significant psychological, emotional, physical, and social consequences for African American individuals. While there are several established theories to address the psychological and social aspects of how …

What Do Facial Products Have To Do With A Waterfall? The Role Of Remoteness, Social Comparison, And Envy In The Purchasing Effectiveness Of Sponsored Product Social Media Content, Louis J. Zmich

Doctoral Dissertations

Advertising has gone from magazines, to television, and now social media. However, unlike the robust advertisement literature, the influencer marketing literature has not caught up to explain how social media sponsored content can perform its best. While companies rely on follower count and interaction (i.e., likes) to determine who to partner with, the need for clarity on how to best predict digital advertisement success is needed. This study brings the literature of advertising and cognitive psychology, and applies the associative memory, visual persuasion, and remote conveyor theories into the influencer marketing context. This study specifically looks at how creativity through …

Antifragility: Disorder As The Wind That Energizes The Fire Within Us, Abdulah Bajaba

Doctoral Dissertations

Today’s business world is more complex and uncertain than ever due to the unpredictable interdependencies caused by factors such as technology and globalization; accordingly, stress-inducing job demands have never been more prevalent. In order to cope with such demands, employees need to go beyond resilience and embrace disorder as a tool for growth. In this dissertation, I introduce the concept of antifragility to the workplace as a psychological resource that utilizes disorder to its advantage. In order to efficiently coincide with today’s complexity and uncertainty, an employee has to gain more than lose from disorder, simply put, s/he has to …

Effective Leadership Of Institutional Effectiveness Accreditation Initiaties: A Qualitative Case Study, Mallory Marie Herlevic

Doctoral Dissertations

A qualitative case study of a two-year institution of higher education which had recently completed a successful institutional effectiveness initiative explored the factors that faculty and administrators believe encourage the support of institutional effectiveness initiatives and how certain factors encourage faculty and administrative support for institutional effectiveness activities that lead to their success. Participants included faculty and administrators at institutions of higher education and experts in the field of institutional effectiveness. There were four basic findings of the study. First, leaders of institutional effectiveness initiatives should ensure that the motivation of the topic of a project is perceived to be …

A Qualitative Analysis Of Distributed Leadership In An Elementary School Setting, Kristel Webb

Doctoral Dissertations

This qualitative case study investigated the processes by which an elementary school principal uses Distributed Leadership to accomplish leadership tasks and progress toward organizational goals. It aimed to provide a thick description of the practices, behaviors, perspectives, and experiences of the participants of Distributed Leadership. The research participants included one principal and eight teacher leaders in a prekindergarten through second grade school in the southeastern part of the United States, having been identified as having Distributed Leadership. The study used observations, interviews, and document analysis to collect qualitative data. The study's finding revealed four themes: leaders’ abilities to pinpoint other …

Surveillance Of Teleworkers: A Grounded Theory Approach, William Grant Clary

Doctoral Dissertations

In March of 2020, the WHO declared COVID-19 a pandemic. The pandemic mandated teleworking across the world as many organizations tried to social distance. Two years into the pandemic, we have seen quite the increase in telework. Thus, with the benefits being realized, it is reasonable to expect a continuance in telework after the pandemic is over. When forced to work from home, many variables with the work process must be changed, including how managers surveil their employees. My work is an early, exploratory effort to understand how teleworkers are surveilled and how they feel about being surveilled at home. …

The Effects Of Disorder In Van Der Waals Materials, Jake Riffle

Doctoral Dissertations

Due to their two-dimensional structure and wide range of electronic behaviors, van derWaals materials have garnered a lot of attention for new technological applications. However, much is still unknown about the consequences that impurities and disorder have on the performance of many new van der Waals materials. In my research I use scanning tunneling microscopy(STM) and electronic transport techniques to study the different types of disorder in three common van der Waals materials: tantalum disulfide (TaS2), black phosphorus (BP), and two-dimensional graphene. In TaS2 I show a sample preparation dependence on the surface state of the bulk crystal and emphasize …

Climatic And Biotic Interactions In Terrestrial Systems During Ancient Warm Periods, Sarah Johnson Widlansky

Doctoral Dissertations

This work focuses on two terrestrial sedimentary records in the western United States that record the ancient greenhouse interval of the early Paleogene (~ 55 million years ago). The Paleogene, and past warm periods in general, offer a means of understanding potential biotic and environmental response to future warming scenarios. Part One of this dissertation establishes a new stable isotope climate record from the Bighorn Basin of Wyoming that is tied to an extensive fossil mammal assemblage (Chapter 1). This new stable isotope record captures carbon isotope excursions (CIEs) associated with the early Eocene hyperthermals ETM2, H2, and potentially I1 …

Heat Transport By Baroclinic Acoustic Streaming, Jacques Abdul Massih

Doctoral Dissertations

Acoustic streaming refers to time-averaged flows generated by time-periodic sound waves. In classic“Rayleigh streaming”, the mean flow is generated by the interaction of a standing acoustic wave with a solid boundary (e.g., a channel wall). Applications of acoustic streaming include inducing fluid mixing in microfluidic medical devices, improving the efficiency of chemical reactions, and enhancing heat transfer. Recently, Chini et al. [J. Fluid Mech., Vol. 744 (2014)] and Michel & Chini [J. Fluid Mech., Vol. 858 (2019)] demonstrated that strong acoustic streaming flows can be generated in gases subjected to an imposed cross-channel temperature gradient. In contrast with Rayleigh streaming, …

First-Generation Student Status As A Predictor Of Participation In Selected High-Impact Practices At The University Of New Hampshire, Paula Marie Dinardo

Doctoral Dissertations

Institutions of higher education are under increased scrutiny as graduation rates decline while student loan debt soars. One proposed strategy to improve completion rates is to give additional support to those students who are most at-risk of leaving college before graduating. Research has shown that first-generation students are more likely to leave college before attaining a degree than their non-first-generation counterparts.

Research has also suggested that engaging in two or more High-Impact Practices (or HIPs) during college can improve one’s academic achievement and persistence to graduation. HIPs are defined as educationally purposeful activities that require students to delve deeply into …

Sociocultural Dimensions Of Environmental Stewardship In New Hampshire: Implications For Adult Environmental Education, Ian Patrick Hanley

Doctoral Dissertations

The overarching aim of this dissertation is to expand evidence and theory of adult identity processes in the context of environmental stewardship, as well as to provide knowledge and recommendations to environmental stewardship and environmental education professionals. The intent is to better understand variation in how adult environmental stewards report on and value their own engagement with both sociocultural and natural systems. This line of inquiry stems from the fundamental claim that environmental stewardship activity is not singularly based on environmental content knowledge but is also related to forms of cultural and social engagement. By recognizing these dual aspects of …

Socioscientific Decision-Making In Undergraduate Students: The Role Of Personal Epistemology, Jordan Dana Bader

Doctoral Dissertations

Socioscientific issues (SSIs), or controversial scientific issues with social implications, influence members of society regardless of demographic. SSIs are contentious and ill-structured, meaning they do not have a definitive answer. To properly equip students with the tools needed to handle SSIs, undergraduate science curricula emphasize scientific literacy skills, such as the ability to search, recognize, and utilize accurate scientific information when handling science driven issues outside of the classroom. However, SSIs are influenced by political, social, economic, and cultural stakeholders. Therefore, students may not be basing their SSI decisions off of accurate information. An individual’s personal epistemology is known to …

Water Droplet Machining And Droplet Impact Mechanics, Benjamin Mitchell

Doctoral Dissertations

Water Droplet Machining (WDM) is a new manufacturing process, which uses a series of high-velocity, pure-water droplets to impact and erode metal workpieces, for the purpose of through-cutting, milling and surface profiling. The process is conducted within a vacuum environment to suppress aerodynamic drag and atomization of the waterjet and droplet stream. This preserves droplet momentum and allows for a more efficient transfer of energy between the water and workpiece, than in standard atmospheric pressure. As a new manufacturing technique, parameter-specific details and characteristics of this process are absent from the scientific literature. Furthermore, the erosion mechanisms involved in droplet-solid …

Melanin Pigments As Antibacterial Agents, Tahmineh Rahmani Eliato

Doctoral Dissertations

In this dissertation I investigated the structural properties of melanin biopigment from different sources as an antibacterial and endotoxin bonding agent. I extracted melanin from Equus ferus hair with acid hydrolysis (termed EquusMel) and characterized it by microscopic and spectroscopic techniques. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) revealed that EquusMel is mainly elliptical in shape with a mesoporous and layered structure within the individual particles. Wide-angle (WAXS) and small-angle (SAXS) X-ray scattering measurements demonstrated a semicrystalline multilayered structure with order spacing of 45.2 Å. Pore size distribution determined by the Barrett–Joyner–Halenda (BJH) method showed primary pores within …

“Test Run Or One And Done”: Gender Differences In Lgbtq+ Hookup Experiences, Della Burke

Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation explores queer individuals’ participation within hookup culture, the goals and motivations of those taking part in queer hookup encounters, and the ways queer individuals make sense of their hookup experiences. I analyze data from 24 semi-structured qualitative in-person and online interviews to examine LGBTQ+-identified individuals’ experiences with queer hookup encounters. This dissertation offers several major contributions to the scholarship of LGBTQ+ hookup experiences. First, I find that participants talk about three discrete levels of intimacy: noncommittal hookups, “catching feelings,” and third, “real relationships” or emotional connections. Second, both men and women define hookups as noncommittal sexual encounters, but …

A Memory-Based Approach To Multiple Document Comprehension, Allison Sonia-Bolduc

Doctoral Dissertations

Multiple document (MD) comprehension is of growing interest in the Internet age, in which reading material is readily available from multiple sources. However, comprehension research has typically been dominated by studies investigating single documents (Bråten et al., 2019; McNamara & Magliano, 2009). This dissertation applies a memory-based approach traditionally used in research on single document comprehension to a MD context, with the goal of understanding the on-line processing and integration of information from multiple documents. Expository-style passages were created in which the first half contained information that was either consistent or inconsistent with a target sentence in the second half. …

Cryopreservation Studies Of An Antifreeze Protein From The Desert Beetle Anatolica Polita, Jonathan Sreter

Doctoral Dissertations

Antifreeze proteins (AFPs) are specialized evolutionary adaptations by certain cold climate organisms, including fish, plants, fungi, bacteria, and insects, to prevent cryo-injury. AFPs contribute to freeze resistance or tolerance by binding to the surface of ice crystals and preventing their growth, as well as inhibiting ice recrystallization (i.e., small crystals restructuring into large crystals) during large temperature fluctuations and constant sub-zero temperatures. AFPs have potential applications in cryopreservation and in the development of cryo-functional materials for medicine, the food industry, and agriculture. We investigated the ability of an antifreeze protein from the desert beetle Anatolica polita, ApAFP752, to confer cryoprotection …

Othered Ambitions: The Conflation Of Villainy And Homosexuality In 20th Century American Media, Sherard Harrington

Doctoral Dissertations

This work sets out to examine the ways in which homosexuality and villainy have been conflated throughout the 20th Century in American media, and the ways in which that conflation has been reinforced and challenged. My observations about the villainous connotations of homosexuality hold despite the ways in which the boundaries of homosexuality have changed throughout the century. A homosexual is anyone who experiences romantic or amorous affection for someone who presents with the same gender presentation and/or who experiences attraction aversion for those who present with the opposite gender presentation. A villain breaks the law seeking to restructure society …

Interventions Towards Sustainable Watershed Management As Demonstrated By Hydrologic Simulation, Shan Zuidema

Doctoral Dissertations

Increasing population, changing climate, and on-going legacies of environmental mismanagement motivate our need for deeper understanding of the process and limits of adaptation towards sustainable management of water resources. Movements towards open-science and transdisciplinary research have enabled deeper assessments of the co-evolution of human society and changing landscapes. Policies and decisions enabling environmental restoration or sustainable resource use have been actively pursued for decades. The social barriers that prevent adaptations to succeed are deep and entrenched, but equally important are the physical barriers. Successful adaptations in water resource management need to explicitly consider the joint interactions of intervention magnitude, or …

Evaluation Of Curing Effects On Cold In-Place Recycled (Cir) Materials, Chibuike Ogbo

Doctoral Dissertations

Most cold In-place recycled (CIR) construction use asphalt emulsion or foamed asphalt with or without active fillers as a stabilizing agent. To ensure the CIR layer gains appreciable stiffness and strength to support traffic, the stabilizing agents have to undergo curing (to gradually develop strength). If traffic is allowed on the CIR layer before sufficient strength and structural capacity is gained, premature damage will occur. Lack of a fast and reliable procedure to determine the extent of in-situ curing significantly increases the risk of such damage. Present construction specifications rely on empirically based time recommendations to ensure sufficient curing. Current …

Rational Design And Synthesis Of Antifreeze-Protein Inspired Polymers For Anti-Icing Coatings And Cryopreservation Applications, Mohamamd Mousazadehkasin

Doctoral Dissertations

Certain organisms living in cold regions have adapted different strategies to survive in harshly cold temperatures. Some of them use freeze-avoiding strategies in which they can prevent freezing by controlling the concentration of sugars (et. sucrose, trehalose) or polyols (glycerol), regulation of the ice nucleator, and dehydration. Other organisms have adapted to this extremely cold condition by producing antifreeze (gly)proteins (AF(G)Ps) which exhibit ice recrystallization inhibition (IRI), thermal hysteresis activity (THA), and dynamic ice crystal shaping. These proteins discovered in Antarctic fish in 1960 for the first time have been reported in bacteria, fungi, insects, and plants. AF(G)Ps and their …

The Active Tail In The Mms Era: An Ion Perspective, Anthony Jason Rogers

Doctoral Dissertations

The Earth's magnetic field has a complex and dynamic relationship with the greater solar system. The solar wind and interplanetary magnetic field extend the influence of the Sun's atmosphere to the orbit of Earth and well beyond, carrying charged particles in a constant stream of varying density and velocity. These solar influences carry energy which interacts with every object they encounter, including the Earth and its magnetic field.

The primary mechanism for the energetic interaction and exchange of energy between the Earth's magnetic field and the solar wind is called Magnetic Reconnection, a process by which two opposing magnetic fields …