Digital Commons Network^™

Social Emotional Learning And Its Development Through Dance: Comparing The Opinions Of Dance Educators And Non-Dance Educators, Teresa Pachniak

Master's Theses

The purpose of this thesis was to identify connections between what is learned in a dance classroom within public schools and the five components of a Social Emotional Learning Curriculum: self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills, and responsible decision-making. The research was designed to answer the following questions: Q1 Are the five components of SEL demonstrated regularly by dance students in compared to non-dance students? Q2 Can SEL be taught using a dance curriculum of movement exploration and dance scholarship? The researcher hoped to accomplish this goal by comparing the opinions of dance teachers and those of non-dance teachers, regarding …

Dance Education In Pennsylvania Charter Schools: Advocating For Parity Among The Core Arts Disciplines, Donna Lynch

Master's Theses

The goal of this research was to collect data on existing dance programs and activities in Pennsylvania charter schools, and to advocate for the presence of dance in school arts offerings for academic credit, creating parity among the four core arts disciplines of visual arts, music, theater, and dance. The researcher developed three essential questions to guide this research:

Q1 What dance education programs currently exist in Pennsylvania charter schools, and what certifications are held by dance educators in these schools?

Q2 What obstacles, other than the teacher certification process, are preventing schools from hiring dance specialists and implementing dance …

Who’S Teaching Whom? A Dance Concert Exploring Teacher-Led, Student-Led, And Collaborative Choreographic Methods, Robin Suing

Master's Theses

The purpose of this study was to create a positive learning environment where students with a range of dance backgrounds can flourish. The goal was to discover the feeling responses of college students to teacher-led, student-led, and collaborative choreography to determine the importance of a balance between teacher-led and student-centered instruction. Information from this project will be used to inform curriculum planning in future dance courses. The following essential questions were used as a guide when assessing the qualitative and quantitative answers to the surveys and interview questions given to the participating students: Q1 What similarities and differences are found …

Metabolic Changes Associated With Gestational Diabetes And Weight Loss, Marykate Smith

Master's Theses

Introduction: Gestational Diabetes Mellitus (GDM) is diabetes diagnosed for the first time during pregnancy and negatively affects the mother and her child. Research suggests a multidisciplinary lifestyle intervention may aid in the reduction of GDM and its complications. Further, the use of metabolomics is needed to understand the alterations that happen prior to GDM diagnosis to reduce its recurrence.

Objective: Metabolomics analysis was conducted at baseline and 16-weeks post-intervention for women enrolled in a pre-pregnancy lifestyle intervention study to observe metabolic changes associated with GDM occurrence and weight loss.

Methodology: Sixteen samples from the parent Gestational Diabetes Prevention trial were …

Crisis Communication In The Ukraine-Russia Conflict: Use Of Facebook By Un Humanitarian Organizations, Rubaiya Zannat

Master's Theses

The proliferation of social media has made it incredibly simple to quickly disseminate valuable information to a large audience. Thus, numerous organizations are now heavily leveraging these social networking platforms as a means for managing their crisis responses. Through a content analysis of 355 posts concerning the Ukraine-Russia conflict made by five large UN humanitarian organizations between February and May, 2022, on their official Facebook pages, this study investigated organizational crisis communication patterns. Findings suggest that UN humanitarian organizations extensively used "threat" and "need for change" as crisis characteristics to delineate the Ukraine-Russia situation, whereas “protection of safety and security,” …

Plant Productivity And Diversity In Coastal Wetlands In Mississippi – Impact Of Hydrological Extremes, Kodi Feldpausch

Master's Theses

Wetlands are highly productive ecosystems that provide important ecosystem services and are threatened by extreme hydrological events. I evaluated how diversion of freshwater like Bonnet Carré Spillway openings in Louisiana, US, affected vegetation productivity and diversity in salt marshes on the neighboring Mississippi Gulf Coast, US. My study area is two estuarine systems that differ in their proximity to the Bonnet Carré Spillway, elevation, and salinity including Hancock County Marshes on the west, and Grand Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve (NERR) on the east in Mississippi. I collected above- and belowground biomass samples in 2020 and 2021, developed linear mixed-effects …

Cdc’S Covid-19 Vaccination Messages And Public Engagement: A Study On Facebook Posts, Hasan Mahmud Faisal

Master's Theses

Government health agencies utilize social media for public health interventions. This study examines how CDC, the national public health agency of the United States, use Facebook to disseminate COVID-19 vaccine messages and to get public engagement towards them over the past two years (2020-2022). Investigating the process of dialogic potentials of Facebook from the dialogic theory of public relations perspective, the current study analyzes 681 posts and 3,405 comments from CDC’s official Facebook page. Thematic analysis of posts yields three dominant themes such as “Vaccine supportive”, “availability of vaccine”, and “up to date information”. Comment analysis shows positive sentiment to …

Stability Of Universal Screening Over Time: An Examination Of The Student Risk Screening Scale, Rebecca Wagner Lovelace

Master's Theses

Universal screening is a proactive method to identify students that are at risk for social-emotional and behavior (SEB) problems and provide information to schools to support early intervention for at risk children. Current recommendations for practice indicate screening should be conducted at three time points during the school year. Previous studies suggest that this recommendation is not empirically based and fewer screenings per year may be sufficient for identifying students at risk. The current study seeks to extend the literature regarding the stability and consistency of screening scores over time by analyzing ratings from the Student Risk Screening Scale (SRSS) …

Irreducible Representations From Group Actions On Trees, Charlie Liou

Master's Theses

We study the representations of the symmetric group $S_n$ found by acting on

labeled graphs and trees with $n$ vertices. Our main results provide

combinatorial interpretations that give the number of times the irreducible

representations associated with the integer partitions $(n)$ and $(1^n)$ appear

in the representations. We describe a new sign

reversing involution with fixed points that provide a combinatorial

interpretation for the number of times the irreducible associated with the

integer partition $(n-1, 1)$ appears in the representations.

Alzheimer’S Detection With The Discrete Wavelet Transform And Convolutional Neural Networks, Melissa N. Nardone

Master's Theses

Alzheimer’s disease slowly destroys an individual’s memory, and it is estimated to impact more than 5.5 million Americans. Over time, Alzheimer’s disease can cause behavior and personality changes. Current diagnosis techniques are challenging because individuals may show no clinical signs of the disease in the initial stages. As of today, there is no cure for Alzheimer’s. Therefore, symptom management is key, and it is critical that Alzheimer’s is detected early before major cognitive damage.

The approach implemented in this thesis explores the idea of using the Discrete Wavelet Transform (DWT) and Convolutional Neural Networks (CNN) for Alzheimer’s detection. The neural …

Beef Bull Selection And Management Affecting Breeding Season Outcomes For California Cattle Producers On Rangelands, Megan Banwarth

Master's Theses

California’s approximately 660,000 head of beef cattle are highly dependent on range bulls used to produce offspring that can perform across the state’s diverse ecological regions. While knowledge of bull breeding behavior and the technology used to monitor cattle movement and behavior is critical to maximize conception rates and the overall efficiency in natural service sires on rangelands. Bulls need to be functional on rugged coastal landscapes, rolling foothills, deserts, and in high-elevation terrain. Few data exist that indicate factors related to selection, maintenance, and longevity of bulls used in rangeland landscapes. Objectives herein, were to assess factors influencing bull …

Panodepth – Panoramic Monocular Depth Perception Model And Framework, Adley K. Wong

Master's Theses

Depth perception has become a heavily researched area as companies and researchers are striving towards the development of self-driving cars. Self-driving cars rely on perceiving the surrounding area, which heavily depends on technology capable of providing the system with depth perception capabilities. In this paper, we explore developing a single camera (monocular) depth prediction model that is trained on panoramic depth images. Our model makes novel use of transfer learning efficient encoder models, pre-training on a larger dataset of flat depth images, and optimizing the model for use with a Jetson Nano. Additionally, we present a training and optimization framework …

Detection Methods, Occupancy Rates, Management And Conservation For Rodents, Jaran Hopkins

Master's Theses

Chapter 1. Species’ occurrences are dependent on a variety of habitat characteristics, including physical landscape factors and anthropogenic land use and change. Understanding the influence of habitat attributes on species occurrence is essential to successful wildlife and habitat management, specifically in areas with active human use. We tested the influence of vegetation alliance, fragmentation, and human recreation in the form of off-highway vehicles (OHV) in an area of active land management in coastal California, with a focus on the occurrences of six small mammal species. The area is composed of sand dunes subject to natural habitat fragmentation. OHV recreation occurs …

Creation And Testing Of A Social Robot Guideline, Sarika L. Singhal

Master's Theses

For this thesis, I created a guideline for socially assistive robots (SARs), and used it to evaluate a reading comprehension based social robot.

To create the guideline I extracted relevant details from published standards about toy safety, radio equipment, electromagnetic compatibility, internet of things security, ethical considerations for human-computer interaction, and data privacy. I then sent a summarized version to experts in the field for feedback. I received seven responses, five of whom were from researchers in academia. The sample size was too small for statistical analysis. Survey responses identified additional areas, such as interactivity and aesthetics, for the guideline. …

Predicting Startup Success Using Publicly Available Data, Emily Gavrilenko

Master's Theses

Predicting the success of an early-stage startup has always been a major effort for investors and venture funds. Statistically, there are about 305 million total startups created in a year, but less than 10% of them succeed to become profitable businesses. Accurately identifying the signs of startup growth is the work of countless investors, and in recent years, research has turned to machine learning in hopes of improving the accuracy and speed of startup success prediction.

To learn about a startup, investors have to navigate many different internet sources and often rely on personal intuition to determine the startup’s potential …

Examining The Moderating Effects Of Adult Social Support On The Relationship Between Adverse Experiences And Psychosocial Adjustment, Zachary Wilde

Master's Theses

Exposure to adverse experiences during childhood place adolescents at a disproportionately high risk of developing physical and mental health problems later in life (Anthony et al., 2019; Basto-Pereira et al., 2016; Brown & Shillington, 2016; Felitti et al., 1998). Further, at-risk adolescents, conceptualized as children and adolescents who lack resources for upward mobility, are more likely to be exposed to adverse experiences and thus are at greater risk for these negative outcomes when compared to adolescents who are not considered at-risk (Fernandes-Alcantara, 2018). To obtain better specificity of what outcomes adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) predict in a sample of vulnerable …

Quantifying Pain: A Ratio Of Cortisol, Substance P, And Pituitary Adenylate Cyclase-Activating Polypeptide As Biomarkers For Pain In Animal Cruelty And Neglect, Danielle Sherer

Master's Theses

Understanding the relationship between cortisol, Substance P, and PACAP during experienced pain and recovery, as well as the contrast between expression levels and serum levels, will provide an objective measure of pain and suffering to aid in the prosecution of animal cruelty and neglect cases.

There is no consensus at this time as to a recognized biomarker for pain experienced by an animal. Cortisol, Substance P, and Pituitary Adenylate Cyclase-Activating Peptide (PACAP) have been investigated separately in various animal and human studies with regard to stress, pain, and injury. Cortisol is a steroid hormone in the glucocorticoid class that has …

Effects Of Pier Shading On Salt Marsh Plants In Mississippi, Daniel Taylor

Master's Theses

Saltmarshes are important environments that are valuable to both humans and wildlife. As saltmarshes are under threat from erosion, sea level rise, and human development, efforts should be made to conserve them. The vegetation that occupies these environments are vital to the continued preservation of saltmarshes. This study focuses on one potential threat, the effect that pier shading has on prominent saltmarsh plants of Mississippi, Sporobolus alterniflorus and Juncus roemarianus. Sample piers were selected in the three coastal counties of Mississippi and visited at two time periods (2006 and 2021). I focused on the use of irradiance measurements at …

How Chicago Public Schools Engaged African American Parents In The Closing Of Austin Career Academy High School, Shani Blackwell

Master's Theses

The role of African American parents in education reform initiatives in Chicago is not clearly defined. Local School Councils (LSC) allow parents to make school related decisions in Chicago. But LSCs are removed from decisions about whether or not to place school on or off probation, and whether or not to close schools based on performance or building utilization. In 2013, African American and Latinx parents expressed outrage over the decision by Chicago Public Schools (CPS) to close 49 schools with protests, including a hunger strike by a group of parents, and pleas to the Chicago Board of Education (BOE). …

Phylogenetic Relationships Among Fishes In The Order Zeiformes Based On Molecular Data From Three Mitochondrial Loci, Lindsay Scarpitta

Master's Theses

The Zeiformes (dories) are mid-water or deep (to 1000 m) marine acanthomorph fishes with a global, circumtropical, and circumtemperate distribution. Some species have a near-worldwide distribution, while others appear to be regional endemics, e.g., near New Zealand. Six families, 16 genera, and 33 species are currently recognized as valid. Relationships among them, however, remain unsettled, especially in light of recent proposals concerning the phylogenetic placement of zeiforms within the Paracanthopterygii rather than allied with beryciforms or percomorphs. The present study uses mtDNA characters to investigate zeiform interrelationships given their revised phylogenetic placement and attendant changes to their close outgroups, carried …

Polyomavirus Jcpyv And Its Role In The Urinary Tract, Rita Lauren Mormando

Master's Theses

Polyomaviruses are the smallest closed-circular supercoiled double-stranded viruses found in the human microbiota. The polyomavirus JC (JCPyV) is most commonly found within the urinary tract, and prior studies estimate that 20-80% of older adults carry JCPyV. In very rare cases, JCPyV leaves the kidneys, causing progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy. However, the role of JCPyV within the urinary tract remains an open question. In a prior study conducted by our group, the bladder microbiota of females with and without overactive bladder symptoms (OAB) were sequenced. Interestingly, JCPyV was only detected in females with OAB; none of the control (“asymptomatic”) microbiota contained JCPyV. …

Comparison Study Of Laboratory Testing Programs Exploring The Influence Of Initial Static Shear Stress On Liquefaction Triggering, Micaela Saqui

Master's Theses

Current state of practice for calculating liquefaction triggering and deformations is outlined in multiple published articles (Seed 1971, Youd et al. 2001, Idriss and Boulanger 2008, National Academies of Sciences 2016, etc.). These methods use a factor of safety analysis with the cyclic stress ratio (the cyclic stress caused by the earthquake normalized by the effective vertical stress in the soil) and the cyclic resistance ratio (the resistance of the soil normalized by the effective vertical stress in the soil). These cyclic ratios are calculated first for free-field sites (no external forces on the soil), then correction factors are used …

Interplay Between Human Microbiota And Celiac Disease, John James Colgan

Master's Theses

Celiac disease is an autoimmune disorder of the small intestine in which gluten, an energy-storage protein in wheat and other cereals, elicits an immune response leading to villous atrophy. Despite a strong genetic component, the disease arises sporadically over the lifetime leading us to hypothesize the microbiome might be a trigger. Here, we re-examined 16S data from 3 prior studies examining celiac disease and the microbiome with newer computational tools: the dada2 and PICRUSt 2 pipelines. Our results both confirmed findings of previous studies and generated new data regarding the celiac microbiome of India and Mexico. The datasets were also …

Interrogating Antagonistic Differences Among Pseudomonas Aeruginosa Cdia Alleles, Haotian Yang

Master's Theses

Bacteria are complex social organisms that live within mixed communities where microorganisms compete for limited resources. We studied Contact-Dependent Growth Inhibition (CDI), a particular type of competition mediated by a type 5b, or two-partner, secretion system that is widely spread among Gram-negative bacteria. CdiB and CdiA make up the two-partner secretion system that mediates CDI. CdiB translocates CdiA to the cell surface, and CdiA delivers its C-terminal toxin domain to the target cell. The C-terminal toxin (Tox) domain of CdiA is highly diverse. We studied Tox domains of various Pseudomonas aeruginosa clinical isolates. We found different strains that contain unique …

Integrating Current Analyses Of The Breast Cancer Microbiome, Sidra Sohail

Master's Theses

Breast cancer is the leading cause of cancer death for women in the US. Many cancertypes have significant associations with their resident microbial communities - emerging evidence suggests that breast cancers also interact with the local tissue-associated microbiota. Studies have examined the relationship between breast cancer and its microbiome, however, the studies varied in their approaches used to evaluate these relationships. Microbiome research advances rapidly and analysis pipelines and databases are updated frequently. This dynamic environment makes inter-study comparisons and superficial evaluations challenging as no two studies are using the same standards for evaluation. Researchers have observed the microbiota of …

Analysis Of Current And Future Flood Hazard In The Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, Nicholas L. Mcguire

Master's Theses

The primary motivation of this study is to estimate the current and future flood hazard throughout the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta in the context of sea-level rise. I also analyzed the effects of storm surge and river flow on extreme events to better understand how these events originate and vary spatially and in time. To address this goal, I combined digital water level records (primarily 1983-present) with archival data collected by the California Department of Water Resources (1929-1983) to reevaluate flood hazard in the Delta and investigate the possible sensitivity of the region different sea-level rise projections. Available archival records from …

Determination Of Fungicide Resistance In Botrytis Cinerea On Wine Grapes In California's Central Coast Region, Evelyn Alvarez-Mendoza

Master's Theses

Botrytis bunch rot, caused by Botrytis cinerea, is a fungal disease that primarily affects the fruit of wine grapes. Infection of fruit consequently results in reduced yields and wine quality. These factors lead to significant economic losses for growers which prompts the implementation of management practices to control the disease. One objective of this study was to evaluate the level of resistance that populations of B. cinerea in the Central Coast region showed to various chemicals. A fungicide assay was conducted to determine resistant phenotypes to six fungicide active ingredients (pyrimethanil, iprodione, fenhexamid, fludioxonil, trifloxystrobin, boscalid). Thirty-five (2020) and …

Hydrologic Response Of Little Creek To The 2020 Czu Lightning Complex Fire At The Swanton Pacific Ranch, Kylie E. Dupuis

Master's Theses

In this study, stage, streamflow, and precipitation data was collected from small watersheds in the Swanton Pacific Ranch for the first two hydrologic years following the 2020 CZU Lightning Complex. The Little Creek watershed was setup for high-resolution data collection with four separate stage gauge sites (Main Stem, North Fork, South Fork, and Upper North Fork) and four rain gauge sites (Al Smith House, Ridgeline, Upper North Fork, and Landing 23). Stage gauge sites were also established at Queseria, Archibald, and Mill creeks. Preliminary post-fire rating curves were developed for the four sites of Little Creek. The Main Stem (MS) …

A Study Of Pressure Probe Response In Steady And Unsteady Flows, Michael T. Charonnat

Master's Theses

The objective of this thesis is two-fold: to analyze the directional calibration of a 3-hole probe in steady flow and to develop a method for the interpretation of measurements recorded with a novel, fast-response Pitot-type probe in unsteady, turbulent flow. Calibration data for the 3-hole probe’s two side ports was taken in the steady, non-turbulent region of a free jet and was evaluated for symmetry. In addition, data that was recorded using one side port in two independent calibration runs was compared to study repeatability. Misalignment was found between the nominally symmetric data sets, which may be the result of …

Thermodynamic And Structural Quantification Of Metal Ions Binding To The Antimicrobial Peptide Calcitermin, Sohee Choi

Master's Theses

Over the past several decades the number of antibiotic resistant bacteria has grown dramatically, in part due to the over-prescription of antibiotics. This rise in antibiotic resistance has led to development of novel antibiotics. An attractive alternative to treat bacterial infections may be the use of antimicrobial peptides due their little-known resistance from bacteria. One such peptide is calcitermin (VAIALKAAHYHTHKE), a 15-residue peptide found in human airways. Calcitermin has antimicrobial properties that target Gram-positive bacteria and is most active in acidic buffer (pH 5.4) due to protonation of its three histidine residues, which allows it to interact with the negatively …