Digital Commons Network^™

Mining Multi-Granular Multivariate Medical Measurements, Conrad Sykes

EWU Masters Thesis Collection

This thesis is motivated by the need to predict the mortality of patients in the Intensive Care Unit. The heart of this problem revolves around being able to accurately classify multivariate, multi-granular time series patient data. The approach ultimately taken in this thesis involves using Z-Score normalization to make variables comparable, Single Value Decomposition to reduce the number of features, and a Support Vector Machine to classify patient tuples. This approach proves to outperform other classification models such as k-Nearest Neighbor and demonstrates that SVM is a viable model for this project. The hope is that going forward other work …

Wild Kokanee Tracking And Movements In Lake Roosevelt, 2010, Tyler Parsons

EWU Masters Thesis Collection

Wild kokanee in Franklin D. Roosevelt Lake, commonly known as Lake Roosevelt, comprise an essential part of the fishery in Lake Roosevelt. The salmon population in Lake Roosevelt plays a vital role in the local ecosystem, and also is a major source of socioeconomic income for the surrounding areas of eastern Washington. There are many gaps in the managers’ knowledge of this wild population of kokanee in Lake Roosevelt. In 2008 we initiated a four year study to determine 1) the seasonal reservoir use areas by kokanee, 2) monitor the thermal and depth experience of kokanee throughout the year, 3) …

Thundersnow, Krista Debehnke

EWU Masters Thesis Collection

No abstract provided.

The Impact Of Oral Health On Quality Of Life In The Aging Population, Jana Mannen

EWU Masters Thesis Collection

Purpose: This study sought to bring awareness to the scientific community of the need for regular dental care in skilled nursing facilities (SNF) by proving access to oral care has an effect on oral health and may have an impact on the SNF residents’ daily performance and Quality of Life (QoL). Methods: This study was conducted at a private SNF in a southern metropolitan area with a sample size of 30 (N=30). The PI and two research assistants conducted interviews and oral exams using a modified 10 item Oral Impacts on Daily Performance (OIDP) with two free response (QoL) questions, …

Beyond Fascism: W.B. Yeats’S A Vision And The Complexities Of His Authoritarian Politics, Justin Abel

EWU Masters Thesis Collection

No abstract provided.

Transformative Pedagogy For Social Justice Education: Teaching Technical Communication Students To Bridge Anzalduan Theories Of Social Change, Carlos Munoz

EWU Masters Thesis Collection

This thesis discusses the growing challenge facing teachers of technical communication in preparing educators with the knowledge, skills, and perspectives to effectively work with an increasing diverse student population, especially with those students whose cultural, racial, language, professional, and ethnic backgrounds are different from the educator’s background. Therefore, Anzaldúan theory offers another productive way of bringing together theory and practice to address the challenge of seeing and practicing technical communication’s critical and civic aspects within diverse communities. This essay provides insight into how Anzaldúa theories for social change might fulfill civic objectives.

“A Revolution Within A Revolution:” The Quest For Women's Liberation In Post Revolutionary Cuba, Mayra Villalobos

EWU Masters Thesis Collection

Women in Cuba endured centuries of gender inequality in a nation known for its history of machismo, male domination. Cuban women expressed a desire to improve their status since 1898, when Cuba was granted its independence from Spain, and again in 1930 when a new women’s movement mobilized itself in Cuba. But only with the revolutionary regime founded by Fidel Castro in 1959 could women like Celia Sánchez, Vilma Espín, and Haydee Santamaría not only continue to advocate women’s suffrage but also pursue equality with Cuban men in the public and private sphere. This thesis examines the development of the …

Reflections On Teaching And Host Mothering Chinese Secondary Students: A Novice Esl Teacher’S Diary Study And Autoethnography, Diane Thames

EWU Masters Thesis Collection

In the summer of 2012, 29 students ages 12-17 came from China to Spokane with a special three-week teaching program for intensive English language instruction and community field trips. Since they were middle and high school students, they had been studying English from four to 13 years in their home country. A mixed methodology of retrospective diary study, case study, and critical and autoethnography helped me to refine my teaching for this population and to prepare others to teach English to Chinese adolescents in the United States. The purpose of the present study, therefore, was to (1) describe the experience …

Divide And Conquer G-Buffer Ray Tracing, Daniel Stokes

EWU Masters Thesis Collection

No abstract provided.

Prueba Go/No-Go, Mauricio Garnier-Villarreal, Luis Diego Conejo Bolaños

College of Nursing Faculty Research and Publications

No abstract provided.

The Contractualization Of Family Law In The United States, Fernanda Nicola, Adrienne Hunter Jules

Scholarly Articles in Law Reviews & Journals

No abstract provided.

Do Defaults On Payday Loans Matter?, Ronald J. Mann

Faculty Scholarship

This essay examines the effect on a borrower’s financial health of failure to repay a payday loan. Recent regulatory initiatives suggest an inclination to add an “ability to pay” requirement to payday-loan underwriting that would be fundamentally inconsistent with the nature of the product. Because the premise of that regulation would be that borrowers suffer harm when they fail to repay such a loan, it is timely to examine the after-effects of such a default empirically. This essay examines that question using a dataset that combines payday borrowing histories with credit bureau information.

The essay uses a difference-in-difference approach, comparing …

The Price Is Wrong: Reimbursement Of Expenses For Acquitted Criminal Defendants, Ira P. Robbins

Scholarly Articles in Law Reviews & Journals

"Not guilty "-these two simple words elicit intense relieffrom any defendant at the conclusion of a criminal trial. As one harrowing ordeal ends, however, a new one inevitably takes shape: picking up the pieces of a life shattered physically, emotionally, and, for non­indigent defendants, _financially. Where do defendants who have successfully defended themselves against criminal prosecution turn for assistance in paying the debts incurred in securing their freedom? Some states, as well as the federal government, have implemented laws that allow acquitted defendants to seek public reimbursement of certain legal expenses they incurred in their defense. These reimbursement methods differ …

Educational Programmes For Spatial Information Sciences In The Technological University Of Dublin, William Prendergast, Eamonn Murphy, Audrey Martin, Avril Behan

Conference papers

The ever increasing spatial information needs of society, the rapid development of new surveying technologies, and the global demand for appropriately qualified surveyors, have triggered a radical re-evaluation of geomatics education worldwide. Significant enhancements have been made to the educational programmes in the spatial information science discipline in the Technological University of Dublin’s (DIT) during the last decade including the provision of a BSc in Geomatics and various masters’ programmes to cater for the increasingly specialised needs of the Geographic Information sector in Ireland.

Public Health Model Identifies Recruitment Barriers Among Older Adults With Delirium And Dementia, Margaret J. Bull, Lesley Boaz, Jennifer M. Sjostedt

College of Nursing Faculty Research and Publications

Recruiting older adults and their family caregivers into research studies presents challenges. Although the literature notes some general recruitment challenges, no studies specifically address the unique challenges of recruiting older adults who have Alzheimer's Disease (AD) and their family caregivers in studies about delirium or suggest using a framework to identify barriers to recruiting this population. In conducting a pilot study about preparing family caregivers to detect delirium symptoms in older adults with (AD) the researchers used the Public Health Model for identifying barriers to recruitment. The goals of this methodological article are to: (1) briefly describe the methodology of …

An Instrument To Assess Individual Capacity For System Thinking, Ra'ed M. Jaradat

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Theses & Dissertations

The purpose of this research was to develop and deploy a new systems thinking instrument to assess individual capacity for systems thinking using an inductive research design. While technology has been increasing exponentially, the corresponding methods to harness those technological advances, and the problems they have spawned, is lagging. While there is a broad collection of systems based methods, techniques, technologies, and tools that can be used in dealing with complex problems, these are predicated on an individual's capacity for engaging a level of systems thinking commensurate with their effective, deployment. Research based methods to determine individual capacity for systems …

Integrating Societal Perspectives And Values For Improved Stewardship Of A Coastal Ecosystem Engineer, Steven B. Scyphers, J. Steven Picou, Robert D. Brumbaugh, Sean P. Powers

University Faculty and Staff Publications

Oyster reefs provide coastal societies with a vast array of ecosystem services, but are also destructively harvested as an economically and culturally important fishery resource, exemplifying a complex social-ecological system (SES). Historically, societal demand for oysters has led to destructive and unsustainable levels of harvest, which coupled with multiple other stressors has placed oyster reefs among the most globally imperiled coastal habitats. However, more recent studies have demonstrated that large-scale restoration is possible and that healthy oyster populations can be sustained with effective governance and stewardship. However, both of these require significant societal support or financial investment. In our study, …

Split Strongly Abelian P-Chief Factors And First Degree Restricted Cohomology, Jorg Feldvoss, Salvatore Siciliano, Thomas Weigel

University Faculty and Staff Publications

In this paper we investigate the relation between the multiplicities of split strongly abelian p-chief factors of finite-dimensional restricted Lie algebras and first degree restricted cohomology. As an application we obtain a characterization of solvable restricted Lie algebras in terms of the multiplicities of split strongly abelian p-chief factors. Moreover, we derive some results in the representation theory of restricted Lie algebras related to the principal block and the projective cover of the trivial irreducible module of a finite-dimensional restricted Lie algebra. In particular, we obtain a characterization of finite-dimensional solvable restricted Lie algebras in terms of the second Loewy …

Project Manager Insights: An Analysis Of Career Progression, James W. Marion Jr, Tracey M. Richardson, Matthew P. Earnhardt

Publications

The project manager is key to the success of any project. But the path to becoming a successful project manager is ill defined. In this study, the authors analyzed interview results of 87 project managers’ responses to questions associated with entry into the field, career progression, and advice for the new project manager, seeking to better understand practicing project manager career progression. Qualitative analysis techniques were used to identify recurring themes from the interview summaries. The themes and the resulting conceptual framework provide evidence that supports the development of successful project manager career path. Further, the results suggest individual project …

Transforming Traditional Classrooms Into Student-Centered 21 St Century Classrooms: A Developmental Process For Professional Development, Monica Mccartney

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

This design-based action research study utilized a model of design, implementation, and evaluation across four school semesters to improve the professional development provided to teachers in a new one-to-one computing environment. Data sources collected across all semesters helped guide changes to the design and implementation phases of the professional development. This study had one guiding research question: What are the appropriate professional development sessions and process for designing professional development in order to meet the needs of teachers as they to transform traditional classrooms into student-centered 21 st century classrooms?

A Method Of Pricing European Style Equity Options, David Harris

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

The study of option pricing has a very short history, when compared with other elements of economics. Since the publication of a method to price European style equity options by Fischer Black and Myron Scholes in 1973 a vast amount of research on option pricing has occurred. Ultimately, the pricing of equity options depends upon the match of the model and reality. A new method to price option contracts is proposed. It is argued that the distributional assumptions of standard models are uncorrelated with nature. A new model is proposed as a start to a new class of models.

The Use Of Hand Bacteria As A Human Biometric Identifier, Amanda Holbert

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Molecular and bio-molecular biometrics are an advancing field that involves the analysis of a person's unique biological markers at a molecular level to ascertain identity. Bacteria communities found on the skin of the human hand have shown to be highly diverse and to have a low percentage of similarity between individuals. The goal of this research effort is to see if a person's demographics, primarily ethnicity, share a relationship with the bacteria communities that exist on their hand. A sample collection was carried out in which the left and right inner palms of 250 individuals were swabbed to obtain a …

Effects Of Slope Geometry Alterations On Rockfall Mitigation Along Highway Rock Cut Slopes In West Virginia, Matthew D. Idleman

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

This report presents the findings of an analysis of current highway rock cut slope design practices in West Virginia, in terms of rockfall mitigation, using the rockfall simulation computer software Colorado Rockfall Simulation Program Version 4.0. Additionally, this report presents the results of two case studies, conducted on highway rock cut slopes constructed in West Virginia, to determine the feasibility of reducing the number of geotechnical benches currently used in cut slope design and construction while still safely retaining rockfall and remaining structurally stable.;Two case studies were conducted on as-built rock cut slopes in West Virginia. The objective of the …

Effect Of Nmb Voting Change On Airline Unionization, Michael Elsenrath

Journal of Aviation/Aerospace Education & Research

In 2010 the National Mediation Board made two significant changes to the application of the Railway Labor Act. Election rules were revised allowing employees to certify a union as their collective bargaining entity if a majority of the ballots cast are in favor of a particular union. Prior to the change, union certification required the majority vote of an entire populace of a craft or class of employees, not a majority of ballots cast. Additionally, failure to participate in a union election on behalf of a member no longer equates to an automatic vote against. Data from National Mediation Board …

Privacy, Restriction, And Regulation Involving Federal, State And Local Legislation: More Hurdles For Unmanned Aerial Systems (Uas) Integration?, David C. Ison, Brent Terwilliger, Dennis Vincenzi

Journal of Aviation/Aerospace Education & Research

With the Congressional mandate for the integration of unmanned aerial systems (UAS) in the National Airspace System (NAS) to begin by 2015, significant interest in UAS investment, operations, and research has taken place. Unfortunately, a complex array of requirements and restrictions have been placed on UAS stakeholders by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). Public concerns about privacy in and around UAS operations has also created an additional layer of convolution, with outcries for further restrictions by the citizens who believe this technology may be used in ways that violate their right to privacy and protection against illegal search and seizure. …

Implementing Human Rights In Closed Environments Through The United Nations Convention Against Torture, Claudio Grossman

Scholarly Articles in Law Reviews & Journals

Closed environments pose a major challenge to the full and effective implementation of human rights norms and conventions. However, many conventions contain mechanisms that can be used to further advance implementation of human rights in those closed environments. The United Nations Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (the Convention) has several mechanisms in place that play an important role in enforcing and implementing human rights obligations. Along with the creation of a supervisory organ, the Committee against Torture (the Committee), the Convention provides a framework for: State Party reporting and concluding observations (COBs) under …

Droplet Size Effect On Herbicide Used In Cereals To Control Dicotyledonous Weeds, Andrew Nathan Fillmore

Plant Sciences

Experiments were conducted to evaluate the effect of droplet size on the efficacy of translocated and non-translocated herbicides. Translocated and non-translocated herbicides provided similar control when comparing droplet size effect on efficacy. Medium and very coarse droplet sizes gave the greatest visible injury whereas coarse-sized gave the lowest visible injury assessments for most species. However, droplet size generally did not affect contact herbicide efficacy. Overall, droplet size was not a strong factor contributing to herbicide efficacy and often, differences were only between herbicides. Non-ionic surfactant solutions measured by a Sympatec droplet analysis system gave the highest percent of volume in …

Genetic Dissection And Molecular Approaches Of Root Morphology Of Canola, Muhammad Arif Uz Zaman

Plant Sciences

The inheritance of root vigor and days to flowering were studied in the F2 populations derived from winter- and spring-type crosses and their reciprocal crosses. Root vigor was found to be controlled by three genes whereas, a single dominant gene was found to be responsible for days to flowering. Positive and significant correlation was found between seed yield and yield attributing traits, seed yield and root length, days to flowering and root length. Days to flowering was negatively correlated to seed yield. Linkage map was constructed with 262 SNP and 3 SSR markers. Two QTL for both root vigor and …

Phytoremediation Of Soils Contaminated By Oil And Gas Drilling And Production Operations Using Grass Species, Yang Gao

Plant Sciences

Soil contaminated by crude oil or drill cuttings poses a threat to ecosystem. The objective of this study was to test tolerance levels of grass species to drill cuttings and crude oil in seed germination and at the 5-leaf stage. Sixty five grass species were screened for their tolerance to crude oil and drill cuttings at the germination stage. Two species were grouped as tolerant, 18 species as moderately tolerant, 27 species as moderately sensitive, and 18 species as sensitive to drill cuttings. In the test with crude oil, 28 species were classified as tolerant, 29 species as moderately tolerant, …

A Unified Theory Of Insurance Risk, Leo P. Martinez

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.