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The Role Of Man's Best Friend: Assessing The Cultural Liminality Of The Canis Lupus Familiars And Its Influence On Human Societies, Julianne L. D'Amico

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

This project combines history and folklore to illuminate the concept of liminality and the human-dog relationship as it has evolved since the species domestication. The lore highlights the permanent liminality of the dog, the use of the species as remedies in Folk Medicine, and the dog's shift from secondary participant to active agent in contemporary medical fields. The informant data and the context of the lore provide the basis for a historical analysis on how the human-dog relationship has evolved, from the past to the present, and inform how this relationship will progress into the future. Furthermore, the lore supports …

The Impact Of Study Abroad On Post-Graduation Job Search, Satoko Fukai

Capstone Collection

Following the tradition of a case study, this capstone research investigates the experience of recent graduates of the City University of New York (CUNY) who participated in study abroad programs managed by the College of Staten Island (CSI) between Fall 2010 and Summer 2015 and examines their perceptions of the post-graduation job search process. The data was collected through an online survey of 72 CUNY graduates and interviews with four survey respondents.

The research findings did not show that the employment rate of CUNY study abroad alumni were any better or worse than others. However, many alumni believed that their …

Private Room Of The Wheel | A New Form Of Transient Dwelling, Kathy Teng

Architecture Senior Theses

The cross-country highway and road trip are deeply rooted in the American psyche, supported by the rapid growth in ownership of automobiles by American families since the 1940s, establishing a sense of freedom and leisure in their mobile lifestyles. However, other highway users have less control and freedom over their daily routine. These users are part of a vast network of international commerce reliant on the long haul.

The time long-haul truck drivers are away from home is prolonged, with the end of each day spent sleeping in fixed truck cabins and eating at banal truck stops. “ ‘I can …

The Internet Of Things User Interface | Navigating Physical And Virtual Information Spaces, Nhan Bui

Architecture Senior Theses

It is projected that the boundary between our physical and virtual environments will be further blurred through the emergence of the "internet of things" (IoT). The IoT is a network of physical objects embedded with electronics, software, sensors, and network connectivity that enables its objects to collect and exchange information on the internet. The most prevalent example of IoT today is your mobile phone. The mobile phone is an electronic device with software that tracks your location via GPS and your preferences based on your interactions on the internet. The collecting and exchanging of information in today' centralized internet infrastructure …

Algorithmic Settlements | Modeling Informal Settlement Through Automated Generative Design, Ben Anderson-Nelson

Architecture Senior Theses

The position of the architect when designing is to arbitrate which information is relevant and which is not, and to do so across a broad spectrum of fields. Considering this, Christopher Alexander claimed as long ago as 1964, that “design problems are reaching insoluble levels of complexity.”This thesis focuses on informal settlement growth and how architects can investigate growth as a part of master-planning new housing. Drawing on case studies of settlements, video game logics, and existing architectural tools, a tool was developed to study the growth of settlements. This tool is based on cellular automata, a spatial and algorithmic …

Statistical Learning Tools With Food Science, Jessica C. Hacker

Industrial Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

The food science discipline has many issues requiring research within academia in order to protect the food that gets distributed from industry. The team within the Center for Food Safety at the University of Arkansas’ Division of Agriculture has been studying the gastrointestinal microbial community in broiler chickens in order to control pathogenic bacteria and improve gut health within the chickens to promote a healthy adult microbiota. This has many positive effects on the quality of the chickens. The team performs a standard method of analysis on every experiment run within a software called QIIME to determine if a treatment …

Impromptu Domesticity: Housing Adaptations By The Marshallese In Springdale, Ar, Kera Lathan

Architecture Undergraduate Honors Theses

This study analyzes the relationship between people and their spatial environment through the lens of cultural practices and experiences. By using theories of cultural identity and activity patterns to compare spatial usage in two differing circumstances, this study will help to better understand the spatial needs of Marshallese living in Springdale, Arkansas.

The analysis uses two in-depth interviews to establish a base of qualitative data to understand the unique needs of this specific population. Through constructs such as spatial fluidity, sharing culture, and ability to adapt to new spatial practices, the two cases are compared to one another in order …

Cybersecurity, Data Breaches, And The Economic Loss Doctrine In The Payment Card Industry, David W. Opderbeck

Maryland Law Review

Data breaches are pervasive and costly. Recent civil data breach cases have centered on the consumer credit card payment chain in the retail industry. An important issue in such cases is whether the economic loss doctrine should bar negligence claims for purely pecuniary losses suffered by a non-negligent party, such as an issuing bank or a federal credit union that must incur costs to reimburse cardholders for the fraudulent use of stolen card numbers.

The economic loss doctrine should not bar these claims. Large-scale data networks, such as consumer credit card networks, often entail significant network externalities. These include externalities …

Denali Expedition 2016, The West Buttress, Justin P. Ramsey

Student Projects for Graduate Degrees

During the summer of 2016 the project team will conduct an expedition to climb the West Buttress of Denali. Denali is the highest peak in North America, with an elevation of 20,320 feet above sea level. The West Buttress is the most commonly climbed route starting at the Kahiltna Glacier and ascending to the summit. The three-week expedition requires robust planning prior to step-off since there will be no external support once started. Current expedition planning typically consists of ad hoc methods of planning, consisting of subject matter expert opinion and best guesses. The average summit rate for the past …

Uni Grad Student News, V14n8, April/May 2016, University Of Northern Iowa. Graduate College.

UNI Grad Student News

Inside this issue:

--Message from the Dean
--Poster Presentation Awards
--Oral Presentation Awards
--Alumni Profile: Mark Rowe-Barth
--Faculty Profile: Anthony Williams
--Graduate Symposium Winners (continued from cover)
--Creative Performance Awards
--Outstanding Master's Thesis Awards
--Master's Research Paper Awards
--Spanish Presentations at the Graduate Student -Symposium
--Alumni Jamie Mahlberg Receives Advisor Award
--UNI ScholarWorks
--Midwestern Psychological Association (MPA) --Conference
--Universitas 2015-2016
--Educational Perspectives Meetings
--UNI Interpreters Theater: Facing Our Truth: Short Plays on Trayvon, Race, and Privilege
--NASP Convention
--Sights of Spring
--What's Happening in Cedar Falls-Waterloo Summer Edition
--Summer 2016 Farmer's Markets
--Student Affairs Interview Day 2016
--Graduate College Staff …

Student Perception On Female Discrimination In Accounting, Qiuting Zheng

Accounting Undergraduate Honors Theses

Approximately 72,648,000 women participate in the labor force compared to 31,543,000 women in 1970 (U.S. Department of Labor). In the 1950s, women were only 30% of the workforce (Toossi, 2002). In 1970, 1990, and 2010, the percentage of working women increased to 40%, 45%, and 47% respectively (Humphrey, 2013). However, students have wrong perceptions about discrimination against women, and, since perceptions and facts are not the same thing, their perceptions might make them misunderstand the accounting profession. This study confirmed that there are misperceptions. To gauge students’ perceptions, I conducted a survey named “Gender Diversity in Accounting” at the Walton …

Developing A Logistics Risk Assessment Tool, Daniel C. Fritsche

Industrial Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

Economies around the world have thrived in the wake of the development and keen understanding of effective supply chain management practices. As a result, organizations have become more dependent on other organizations to move their products and services to completion due to complex sourcing and shipping arrangements that have precipitated from the formation of sophisticated supply chains. A supply chain is in general a flow of products or services. When this flow is disrupted or halted, disastrous consequences can ensue. In the worst cases, such as with a disaster relief organization like the American Red Cross, disruptions in supply chains …

The Impact Of Educational Backgrounds On Academic Success At A Private Work College In The Midwest, Abbey Nicole Vogt

Dissertations

More families in the United States are beginning to choose private or homeschool education for children instead of a public school education (Hanna, 2011); therefore, college administrators must begin to evaluate each student’s educational background in order to help all students achieve academic success at the college level. The purpose of this study was to determine differences in multi-year college academic performance among public, private, and homeschool graduates who attended a private work college in the Midwest. The variables analyzed consisted of students’ final high school GPAs and ACT test scores, college cumulative GPAs and work point average (WPA) scores, …

Analysis Of An Alternative High School's Graduates And Dropouts: A Phenomenological Study, Marina E. Flores

Educational Leadership & Policy Studies Dissertations - Archive

In 2013, just over two-thirds of students graduated from high school in the prescribed four years. Some students continued to attend traditional high schools for a fifth year; others entered an alternative high school and earned a high school equivalency certificate, qualifying them as completers. Some joined the workforce or dropped out of school altogether. Other students enrolled in an alternative high school during the prescribed four years and either graduated on time, graduated in their fifth year, or dropped out. In this phenomenological study, deciding factors for school disengagement and reengagement were explored, via self-determination theory, by examining how …

Evidence-Based Cybersecurity: Data-Driven And Abstract Models, Benjamin Edwards

Computer Science ETDs

Achieving computer security requires both rigorous empirical measurement and models to understand cybersecurity phenomena and the effectiveness of defenses and interventions. To address the growing scale of cyber-insecurity, my approach to protecting users employs principled and rigorous measurements and models. In this dissertation, I examine four cybersecurity phenomena. I show that data-driven and abstract modeling can reveal surprising conclusions about longterm, persistent problems, like spam and malware, and growing threats like data-breaches and cyber conflict. I present two data-driven statistical models and two abstract models. Both of the data-driven models show that the presence of heavy-tailed distributions can make naive …

Young, Urban, Professional, And Kenyan?: Conversations Surrounding Tribal Identity And Nationhood, Charlotte Achieng-Evensen

Educational Studies Dissertations

By asking the question “How do young, urban, professional Kenyans make connections between tribal identity, colonialism, and the lived experience of nationhood?,” the researcher engages with eight participants in exploring their relationships with their tribal groups. From this juncture the researcher, through a co-constructed process with participants, interrogates the idea of nationhood by querying their interpretations of the concepts of power and resistance within their multi-ethnic societies. The utility of KuPiga Hadithi as a cultural responsive methodology for data collection along with poetic analysis as part of the qualitative tools of examination allowed the researcher to identify five emergent and …

Bridgers In The Third Space: An In-Country Investigation Of The Leadership Practices Of Us-Educated Chinese Nationals, Maria L. Martinez

Educational Studies Dissertations

This in-country grounded theory study examined the lived experiences of 24 Chinese returnees who completed advanced degrees in the United States. The study found that the four types of organizations in mainland China determine the social context of the application of Western education of the Chinese returnees. Returnees working in multinational corporations apply their Western education more than the returnees working in the other types of organizations. Themes that revolved around the international educational experiences of the Chinese students, including the development of cultural intelligence and new understanding of the ‘other’, and their realization of the differences between their home …

The Effect Of Mapping Technology On Fire-Based Ems Response Times In Santa Clara County, Angela Borland

Master's Projects

The goal of this research is to determine whether map technology and signal preemption technology contribute to lowering fire-based EMS response times in Santa Clara County. The research uses benchmarking among fire departments in Santa Clara County, the Bay Area, and large Western urban fire departments to determine which factors contribute to the success in meeting contracted response times. Findings from this evaluation were used to create recommendations for fire service leadership regarding resource use along the continuum of fire department-based EMS response to 9-1-1 calls for medical service.

Healthy Fails To Wealthy Trails: Revitalization Opportunities For Underused Spaces Alongside Residential Areas In Arleta, California, Jorge Martinez

Master's Projects

No abstract provided.

Adaptive Discrimination, Elise C. Boddie

North Carolina Law Review

No abstract provided.

Long-Term Shifts In The Patterns And Underlying Processes Of Plant Associations In Wisconsin Forests, Daijiang Li, Donald Waller

Faculty Publications

© 2016 John Wiley & Sons Ltd. Aim: Plant species co-occur within communities in response to variation in environmental conditions, limited species dispersal and biotic interactions. We used surveys and resurveys of the same sites of three temperate forest plant communities to study patterns of association between co-occurring species pairs and to infer how these mechanisms contribute to community assembly. Our goal was to compare these forces among communities occupying more and less disturbed landscapes and examine how these have changed over the last 50 years. Location: Wisconsin, USA. Methods: We resurveyed 266 sites first surveyed in the 1950s to …

Rural And Remote Access To Justice Infographic, Canadian Forum On Civil Justice

Canadian Forum on Civil Justice

N/A

The Importance Of Cleopatra’S Image As Mother In Contemporary Rome And The East, Catherine Briley

Honors Capstones

No abstract provided.

A Spatial Analysis Of The Relationship Between Obesity And The Built Environment In Southern Illinois, Shiloh Leah Deitz

Theses

Scholars have established that our geographic environments – including infrastructure for walking and food availability - contribute to the current obesity epidemic in the United States. However, the relationship between food, walkability, and obesity has largely only been investigated in large urban areas. Further, many studies have not taken an in-depth look at the spatial fabric of walkability, food, and obesity. The purpose of this study was two-fold: 1) to explore reliable methods, using sociodemographic census data, for estimating obesity at the neighborhood level in one region of the U.S. made up of rural areas and small towns – southern …

Apolipoprotein E And Clusterin Can Magnify Effects Of Personality Vulnerability On Declarative Memory Performance In Non‐Demented Older Adults, Sharaddha Sapkota, Sandra A. Wiebe, Brent J. Small, Roger A. Dixon

Aging Studies Faculty Publications

Objectives: Recent research has linked psychological (personality) factors and specific genetic risk polymorphisms to performance on neurocognitive phenotypes. We examined whether episodic or semantic memory performance is associated with (a) three personality traits (i.e. neuroticism, extraversion, and openness to experience), (b) two neurodegenerative‐related polymorphisms (i.e. Apolipoprotein E (APOE; rs7412; rs429358), Clusterin (CLU; rs11136000)), and (c) cross‐domain risk interactions (magnification effects).

Methods: Linear growth models were examined to test independent associations between personality traits and declarative memory performance, and potential interaction effects with APOE and CLU genetic risk. Normal older adults (n = 282) with personality …

Mitochondrial Dna Variation In Southeastern Pre-Columbian Canids, Kristin E. Brzeski, Melissa B. Debiasse, David R. Rabon, Michael J. Chamberlain, Sabrina S. Taylor

Faculty Publications

The taxonomic status of the red Wolf (Canis rufus) is heavily debated, but could be clarified by examining historic specimens from the southeastern United States. We analyzed mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) from 3 ancient (350-1900 year olds) putative Wolf samples excavated from middens and sinkholes within the historic red Wolf range. We detected 3 unique mtDNA haplotypes, which grouped with the coyote mtDNA clade, suggesting that the canids inhabiting southeastern North America prior to human colonization from Europe were either coyotes, which would vastly expand historic coyote distributions, an ancient coyote-Wolf hybrid, or a North American evolved red Wolf lineage related …

Community-Scale Biosand Filter Pilot Project In Cambodia, Jason Hahn

Student Projects for Graduate Degrees

Clean water is a basic human necessity that is essential for the health of all population, yet 700 million people worldwide lack access to this vital resource, particularly in developing countries like Cambodia. This results in high incidences of water-borne illnesses due to the use of contaminated sources and is a burden that prevents people from leading productive lives. Slow sand filtration, both on the municipal level and the household level, is a low-cost technology that has been implemented around the world to address this problem, yet biosand filtration has not been widely implemented on a community level due to …

Analysis Of Late Summer Heat Waves In The Northeast Us, Tomer Burg

Atmospheric & Environmental Sciences

The climatological temperature maximum and heat wave frequency, defined as three or more consecutive days of maximum temperatures at or above 32 degrees Celsius, often peak around mid to late July in the Northeast United States. However, numerous notable heat waves have occurred in late August into early September, including 1953, 1973, and to a lesser extent 2015. An analysis of daily means of 500 hPa geopotential heights from the NCEP-NCAR Reanalysis dataset over a 67–year period (1948–2015), in addition to surface temperatures from numerous stations east of the Mississippi River, shows a secondary peak in mean temperatures, geopotential heights …

Factors Of Political Party Competitiveness In Mississippi, Anna Kate Baygents

Honors Theses

This research project examines the relationship between urbanization and political party competitiveness in Mississippi. Using elections results from the 2011 and the 2015 Mississippi House of Representatives races, this project seeks to find if there is a relationship between urbanization and competitiveness in Mississippi, and if not, which factors do affect competitiveness. Previous research indicates that as an area urbanizes, its elections become more competitive among different political parties. However, this study finds that there is no clear correlation between urbanization and party competitiveness in Mississippi elections, and that other factors, including race, education, and geographic location, may have more …

Financial Literacy In High School Education, Chelsea N. Simmons

Honors Theses

Personal finance has become increasingly complicated in the past thirty years due to globalization and financial engineering. Americans are faced with new financial products and decisions, and many do not have the knowledge or expertise to successfully manage their finances. Financial literacy is especially low among young adults. Individual states have responded by introducing a personal finance course into the high school curriculum. This course may be an elective or a requirement for graduation. This study begins to examine personal finance curriculum in high schools and the effect such coursework has on overall financial literacy when students reach college.