Digital Commons Network^™

Latinx Students' Sense Of Belonging: Role Of Idea-Related Courses, Alondra Eradnsa Faudoa

Theses and Dissertations

Although there is continuing growth in higher education for Latinx individuals, they are disproportionately less likely to finish college compared to students of other ethno-racial groups (Snyder, 2018). Sense of belonging has been found to be a crucial component for student success, especially for Latinx students. The purpose of the following qualitative study was to gain an in-depth understanding of Latinx students’ sense of belonging on campus using Hurtado and Carter’s (1997) theoretical framework and explore how Latinx students' sense of belonging is related to interactions within classes designed around an Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Action (IDEA) framework. This study …

A Coffee Shop Attributes' Impact On Work Behavior: Perceptions Of Regular Working Patrons, Haley R. Gwin

Theses and Dissertations

Coffee shops are a global phenomenon. They need to be understood as multifunctional spaces and complex social environments. A single coffee shop can serve diverse customers while offering socio-physical attributes that encourage remarkable ranges of parallel activities such as social gatherings, focused intellectual work, and creative endeavors. Coffee has reportedly been perceived as fueling the creative processes of many young professionals, creative entrepreneurs, and students (Attaianese, 2018). Fast-evolving communication technologies and the recent pandemic have accelerated existing questions and changed conventional conceptions about where one can do focused work, what qualifies as a place of work, and how workspaces should …

Awe And Positive Affect: The Role Of Self-Transcendence And Self-Focused Attention, Autumn Chall

Theses and Dissertations

The present study discussed the mechanism behind awe’s ability to improve affect. Proposed mechanisms include a lowered level of self-focused attention and a heightened level of self-transcendence since awe experiences have been found to decrease self-interest and significance (Bai et al., 2017; T. Jiang & Sedikides, 2021). To examine self-focused attention and self-transcendence as potential mediators for the relationship between awe and positive affect, this study utilized therapeutic writing techniques. In a between-subjects design, participants were randomly assigned to write about either a personal experience of awe or a neutral experience. Following this, participants filled out questionnaires assessing affect, level …

Sticks And Stones May Break My Bones, But Will Comments Ever Hurt Me? : A Burkean Analysis Of Cancel Culture In Social Media Spaces, Kaylin Lane

Theses and Dissertations

In the modern social media era, “cancel culture” is a growing phenomenon used to hold public figures accountable for perceived wrongdoings. But who gets to cancel these celebrities? And how does someone get canceled? The concept of “cancel culture” has often been discussed in the past in the sense that the United States is a culture that is prone to want to cancel others. In my study, I am looking at the fact that there is a desire to cancel a perceived wrongdoer from an online space that is functioning as its own individual culture. The terms used to describe …

Virtual Social Onboarding: Bridging The Gap Between Newcomer Adjustment And Workplace Friendships In Virtual Work Teams, Ertemisa Paz Godinez

Theses and Dissertations

Many organizations are choosing to adopt some form of remote work teams long-term post-COVID 19 and are now tasked with addressing challenges around remote work such as newcomer engagement and newcomer onboarding (MacKenzie et al., 2022). This study attempts to explore how virtual onboarding impacts newcomer adjustment and the development of workplace friendships in fully remote teams due to their correlation with the desired outcomes of onboarding and socialization (Allen, 2006; Feeley et al., 2008; Hemphill & Begel, 2011; Jones, 1986; Korte & Lin, 2013; Mignerey et al., 1995; Morrison, 2004; Sias & Cahill, 1998). Organizational socialization tactics (Jones, 1986; …

Identification Of Gap Junction Genes Involved In The Tail-Flip Escape Circuit Of Marbled Crayfish, Rajit S. Roy

Theses and Dissertations

Escape responses are highly stereotyped behaviors that enable organisms to avoid threats in their environment. To ensure the rapid and robust execution of these behaviors, they are often mediated by dedicated neuronal circuits with fast feed-forward signal propagation. Rectifying electrical synapses, which allow electrical current to preferentially flow only in one direction, are a hallmark of such circuits, and facilitate rapid and stereotyped neuronal signaling for fast, reflexive behaviors. In vitro studies have suggested that it is the heterotypic distribution of the gap junction proteins (called innexins in invertebrates), i.e., possessing different innexins in pre- and postsynaptic neurons, that enables …

An Augustinian Pedagogy Approach To Integrative Stem Education: The Candle Learning Model, David Joseph Relstab

Theses and Dissertations

The author will attempt to construct a learning platform congruent to a STEM-based curriculum. However, before the learning system can be constructed, foundational concepts for how education is conducted within an institutional structure will be examined. The role of the teacher in conveying information to students for their formation as technically literate members of society and formed in the ability to carry out meaningful reflection and dialogue with others will be examined. The overall objective is to utilize the pedagogical style of Augustine of Hippo to guide the construction of a wholistically integrative STEM curriculum. The student’s lived experience instills …

Gyno-Gerontological Discourse And The Dearth Of Old Women Narrators In British Fiction 1790-1860, Lavender Elisabeth Earnest

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis explores the remarkable dearth of old woman narrators in British fiction between 1790 and 1860, both documenting their under-representation and explaining it as, in part, a product of a wave of medical discourse disparaging the physical and mental vitality of post-menopausal women. Regarding methodology, I perform a random sample upon a corpus of first-person novels published in the period and categorize each according to the gender and age of the narrator. This analysis exhibits, unsurprisingly, that most narrators in the dataset are either in the first half of their life, male, or both. Old women represent only a …

Delivering Computer-Based Training Within State Prisons, Kunal Jha

Theses and Dissertations

Internet-connected devices are ubiquitous, and our built environment allows us to tap into formerly impossible solutions. As our world increasingly depends on technology to operate, one demographic cannot gain exposure to internet-connected devices or web-based educational programs: incarcerated individuals. The Department of Justice reports that 5 out of 6 State Prisoners are arrested and returned to prison within nine years of their initial release. Research shows that education is a pathway to reducing the U.S. prison population. Individuals who participated in any educational program are 43 percent less likely to return to prison.1 Prisons in the United States often partner …

What Factors Motivated Female And Minority Students To Pursue A Career In Healthcare, Ken Smith

Theses and Dissertations

KEN SMITH125 Pages This research study was conducted to determine what motivational factors influenced females and minority students to pursue a career in healthcare. Using Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs theory, this quantitative study suggests that there are three distinct motivational factors influencing minority students to pursue a healthcare as their future profession. This study surveyed current undergraduate students at four-year public institutions. These students completed an online survey known as the Portrait Value Questionnaire (PVQ), which is comprised of a series of questions based on the ten domains of values theory. Each individual portrait or item provides a description of …

Characterizing The Editing Modes Of Duplicated Leucyl-Trna Synthetases In The Archaea Sulfolobus Islandicus, Evan T. Strandquist

Theses and Dissertations

Aminoacyl-transfer RNA synthetases (aaRSs) catalyze the attachment of an amino acid to the 3’-end of a cognate tRNA in a two-step reaction, fulfilling a pivotal role in RNA translation by providing “charged” tRNA for protein synthesis. Synthetases possess a catalytic core where amino acids are activated via adenylation with the subsequent transfer of that activated amino acid to the acceptor adenosine at position 76 of the tRNA sequence.1,2 The fidelity of tRNA aminoacylation is essential for faithful protein synthesis and requires the aaRS to discriminate against chemically and structurally similar amino acids, though some studies suggest that aaRS-dependent errors can …

Sources Of Atmospheric Dust Deposition On Utah Lake, Justin Telfer

Theses and Dissertations

Atmospheric deposition (AD) is a significant source of nutrient loading to waterbodies around the world. However, the sources and loading rates are poorly understood for major waterbodies and even less understood for local waterbodies. Utah Lake is a eutrophic lake located in central Utah, USA, and has high nutrient levels. Recent research has identified AD as significant sources for nutrient loading to the lake to better understand the dust AD sources, we sampled suspected source locations and collected deposition samples around the lake. We analyzed these samples using Inductively Coupled Plasma (ICP) for 25 metals to characterize their elemental fingerprints. …

Role Of The Cytosolic Chaperonin Cct In The Folding Of Novel Substrates, Theresa M. Smith

Theses and Dissertations

All cells depend on properly folded proteins for survival and function. Misfolding of proteins results in loss of critical functions and may trigger the misfolding of other nearby proteins leading to toxic aggregation. While many proteins can fold on their own, others with complicated domain structures require assistance from protein folding machines called chaperones. The most complex and highly specialized of all chaperones is the eukaryotic chaperonin complex CCT which is necessary for the folding of a wide variety of essential proteins. These include the cytoskeletal proteins actin and tubulin as well as the Gβ subunit of the G protein …

Efficacy And Outcome Beliefs Of General And Special Education Teachers Working With Culturally Linguistically Diverse Students With Disabilities, Jennifer L. Hastings

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to understand general and special education teacher perceptions about collective teacher efficacy (CTE), culturally responsive teaching self-efficacy (CRTSE), and culturally responsive instruction outcome expectancy (CRIOE) and the educational success of culturally linguistically diverse students (CLD) with disabilities. Forty-four teachers (16 general educators and 28 special educators) from six Midwestern school districts completed a survey consisting of CTE, CRTSE, and CRIOE. The findings from this study suggest general and special education teacher participants did not perceive themselves or their colleagues as culturally responsive. Yet, general and special education teachers agreed that CRT positively affects student …

Evolving Literacy Practices In The Vocational-Technical High School Classroom: How Critical Literacy Frameworks Enhance Learning And Increase Student Reading Success In Cte, Alice A. Infranco

Theses and Dissertations

This paper provides a qualitative account of how Critical Literacy instruction fosters reading growth in vocational-technical school settings. This study examines how critical literacy enriches learning outcomes within Career and Technical Education (CTE). The findings are that Critical Literacy skills are necessary for all readers because they positively affect student engagement and participation in learning, especially if presented in a way that allows students to have an active role in their learning. Examples of how to integrate Critical Literacy instruction into CTE classrooms are presented and discussed. These instructional practices go beyond traditional reading comprehension skills. The conclusion is that …

Nutrient Loadings To Utah Lake From Bulk Atmospheric Deposition, Mitchell Matthew Brown

Theses and Dissertations

Atmospheric deposition is a marginally understood source of nutrient loadings to waterbodies. Atmospheric deposition occurs via wet (rain, snow) and dry (gaseous and particulate transport) pathways. Bulk atmospheric deposition is defined as the total deposition from both wet and dry pathways. Utah Lake is a shallow eutrophic freshwater lake located in central Utah, USA. Recent studies have shown atmospheric deposition to be a significant contributor to the nutrient budget of Utah Lake. This study presents the analysis using three different methods of six years' worth of wet atmospheric deposition samples from nine locations around the lake, though these samples do …

Kif3 A Tail Domain Phosphorylation Is Not Required For Ciliogenesis In Mouse Embryonic Fibroblasts, Ayoola Fasawe

Theses and Dissertations

Cilia and flagella are microtubule-based organelles that protrude from the plasma membrane of most cells in the body and play a critical role in cell signaling, motility, and development. Numerous diseases, collectively known as ciliopathies, with phenotypes like developmental abnormalities, cystic kidney disease, and obesity, have been linked to ciliary dysfunction. Intraflagellar transport (IFT) shuttles cellular cargoes along axonemal microtubules and into and out of cilia. IFT is essential for the assembly of cilia and flagella and is powered by heterodimeric kinesin-2 (KIF3A/KIF3B) and dynein-2. While the essential role of kinesin-2 in mammalian ciliogenesis is well established, little is known …

Lynch Law In The Land Of Lincoln: African American Intellectuals And Early Twentieth Century Race Riots, John Patrick Pleming

Theses and Dissertations

Abstract: In the early twentieth century, more and more African Americans began to leave the American South in search of better jobs and more equal treatment in the North. These black migrants found a less rigid racial hierarchy and employment in industrial and domestic settings. However, racism in the North was alive and well. As African American communities began to exert their economic and political power, they were often targeted by white mobs who would rampage through black neighborhoods, killing and burning as they went. In response to race riots in Springfield (1908), East St. Louis (1917), and Chicago (1919), …

Operationalizing Process Mapping For Small-To-Medium Enterprise Erp Implementation, Matthew Simeroth

Theses and Dissertations

Business Process Reengineering (BPR) is a critical success factor for Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) implementation projects that typically involve mapping business processes in cross-functional flowcharts. Despite being the most common type of process map used by small-to-medium enterprises (SME) for BPR, traditional cross-functional flowcharts do not contain the data necessary to optimize and operationalize a process and are a contributing factor to the 70% failure rate experienced by SMEs when implementing a new ERP system. This thesis provides an alternate method of process mapping, known as Operational Process Mapping, that addresses the weaknesses of cross-functional flowcharts for the BPR stage …

Efficient Scopeformer: Towards Scalable And Rich Feature Extraction For Intracranial Hemorrhage Detection Using Hybrid Convolution And Vision Transformer Networks, Yassine Barhoumi

Theses and Dissertations

The field of medical imaging has seen significant advancements through the use of artificial intelligence (AI) techniques. The success of deep learning models in this area has led to the need for further research. This study aims to explore the use of various deep learning algorithms and emerging modeling techniques to improve training paradigms in medical imaging. Convolutional neural networks (CNNs) are the go-to architecture for computer vision problems, but they have limitations in mapping long-term dependencies within images. To address these limitations, the study explores the use of techniques such as global average pooling and self-attention mechanisms. Additionally, the …

Hierarchical Joint Entity Recognition And Relation Extraction Of Contextual Entities In Family History Records, Daniel Segrera

Theses and Dissertations

Entity extraction is an important step in document understanding. Higher accuracy entity extraction on fine-grained entities can be achieved by combining the utility of Named Entity Recognition (NER) and Relation Extraction (RE) models. In this paper, a cascading model is proposed that implements NER and Relation extraction. This model utilizes relations between entities to infer context-dependent fine-grain named entities in text corpora. The RE module runs independent of the NER module, which reduces error accumulation from sequential steps. This process improves on the fine-grained NER F1-score of existing state-of-the-art from .4753 to .8563 on our data, albeit on a strictly …

Fever City: Memory, Truama, And Storytelling Via Hybrid Writing Methods: A Creative Dissertation, Samantha Moe

Theses and Dissertations

Fever City: Memory, Truama, and Storytelling via Hybrid Writing Methods: A Creative Dissertation is a hybrid novel examining Latinx and Chicanx hybrid writing methods, ghost stories, gastro-poetry, and images exploring Ecuadorian cuisine, trauma, memory, mental health, queerness, domestic violence, and love in the backdrop of a sixth New York City borough called Fever City. The dissertation includes a critical preface that theorizes how silent workshop models can and should be abolished and (re)created with trauma-engaged workshop methods supporting discussion groups and literate activity tracing in student assignments. The dissertation also includes a pedagogical chapter that explores hybrid writing in the …

Sustainably Providing Accurate Local River Discharge Data With Global Hydrologic Modeling And Bias Corrections, Riley Chad Hales

Theses and Dissertations

The Global Water Sustainability Initiative of the Group of Earth Observations (GEOGloWS) supported an initiative to develop a global hydrologic model. The purpose of the modeling initiative is to build a high-quality model using the best available datasets and modeling methods with the primary emphasis on accessibility of the model. The goal is to make the model a sustainable source of river discharge information to supplement the capacity of those countries without the local capacity to maintain sufficient gauge networks and local modeling capabilities and cyberinfrastructure. Past research developed a modeling approach and piloted implementations and data and visualization services …

Assessment Of Largemouth Bass (Micropterus Salmoides) Condition Using Liver Histopathology, Health Parameters And Water Quality Of The Central Chattahoochee River Watershed, Kari Carmack Goodwin

Theses and Dissertations

The health of Largemouth bass from west-central Georgia was assessed using liver histopathology and the degree of tissue change index (DTC), hepatosomatic indices (HSI), relative weight, condition factors, and intersex. These health parameters as well as water chemistry data were compared across four bodies of water, three within the Chattahoochee watershed, and one pseudo-control located in the Flint watershed. Fish from Lake Oliver, Lake Harding, and West Point Lake had severely impacted liver health compared to Warm Springs National Fish Hatchery, with DTC rankings over 100 for the three lakes within the Chattahoochee watershed, demonstrating severely damaged livers. There was …

Lo Bueno Y Lo Malo – Assessing Admissions Staff And Practices Supporting Undocumented Students At Illinois’ Four-Year Public Universities, Dave Marcial

Theses and Dissertations

Illinois has enacted legislative policies to provide access to higher education and state funding opportunities for undocumented students. Public Act 093-0007, Illinois RISE Act, and Illinois House Bill 3438 all have implications for Illinois four-year public universities and community colleges.

This dissertation focused on understanding the training, knowledge, and support of the admissions staff at all twelve public four-year universities. A survey was created with the assistance of content experts to gauge admissions staff institutional training and knowledge as it pertains to supporting undocumented students. Approximately 90 admissions staff were identified for the study and 57 participants responded from all …

Parenting Characteristics And The Development Of Self-Compassion: A Look At Self-Warmth And Self-Coldness, Meghan Rogers

Theses and Dissertations

Self-compassion, which reflects a kind stance towards oneself when suffering, is related to a whole host of positive outcomes from decreased anxiety (Neff & McGehee, 2010; Raes, 2010; Temel & Atalay, 2018) and depression (Neff & McGehee, 2010; Raes, 2010; Steindl et al., 2018; Temel & Atalay, 2018) to increased happiness (Neff et al., 2007b; Wei et al., 2011). It is important, therefore, to understand how an individual develops self-compassion. Parenting characteristics have been shown to be associated with later self-compassion and may therefore be related to its development. In addition, self-compassion has recently been conceptualized as having two different …

“Focus In The Chaos: ” Cooperating Teachers’ Perceptions Of A Structured Conferencing Guide, Sara Elizabeth Harms

Theses and Dissertations

The proposed dissertation follows a three article format. The articles represent two distinct but interrelated strands of research; the first article examines the role of a cooperating teacher as an expert and co-learner. The second article is an exploratory case study examining the use of a structured mentoring guide, The Reflection and Engagement Guide (REG) to support the work of cooperating teachers. The third is a practitioner article for teacher educators and cooperating teachers that describes the creation and research behind the REG, it includes how to use the guide with student teachers as well.

Multi-Year Analysis Of Groundwater Temperature Fluctuations In A Shallow Aquifer Sysytem Influenced By A Tile-Drain, Jack Thomas Wassik

Theses and Dissertations

Groundwater temperature plays a significant role in regulating geochemical, biological and physical processes with the subsurface with wide ranging environmental and societal impacts. Air temperature, weather conditions and lithology exhibit control on magnitude and timing of thermal responses that ultimately control groundwater temperature. Historical groundwater, tile water, stream and air temperature data from the T3 site were analyzed, including groundwater temperature data from multiple depths was analyzed. Additionally, statistical analyses between the temperature datasets were performed in order to interpret potential relationships. Air temperature was found to be the primary control of groundwater temperatures, though its affect being muted as …

Wrong-Way Driving: Data Collection, Analysis, And Safety Countermeasures, Parisa Hosseini

Theses and Dissertations

Wrong-way driving (WWD) crashes have been a long-lasting issue for transportation agencies during the past decades. According to the AAA Foundation's latest statistics, on divided highways, a total of 2,921 WWD fatal crashes were documented from 2010 to 2018, resulting in 3,546 fatalities. In order to analyze WWD events, this study attempts to initially develop a methodology to identify actual WWD crashes from potential WWD crashes in police reports by using text mining and machine learning techniques. Afterward, developing a hazard-based duration model, this study investigates the contributing factors related to the distance traveled by a wrong-way (WW) driver involved …

A Hedonic Analysis Of Thoroughbred Horses In Online Auctions, Madalynn Nicole Camp

Theses and Dissertations

A horse’s lifespan ranges from 20 to 30 years while a Thoroughbred racehorse’s career averages just 4.45 years. According to the American Horse Council Foundation, 33% of the horses in the United States are involved in the racing industry. Upon retiring from racing, Thoroughbreds have the option of being kept as breeding stock or sold to equestrians in the non-racing sector to begin second careers. Retired Thoroughbred racehorses may prove to be a great investment for equestrians wanting an athletic horse for an affordable price and provide a second career track for these retired racehorses. This study aims to analyze …