Digital Commons Network^™

Simple Soil Quality Tests And Organic Management Practices For Orchards In The Intermountain West, Esther Oline Thomsen

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Soil health is often overlooked as a long-term management strategy as growers face an increasing number of short-term management challenges in the Intermountain West. The costs of inputs are rising and water resources are becoming more limited. Soil with poor health typically requires more amendments and fertlizers to meet crop needs. Soil health tests can help reveal management practices that reduce soil health, as well as those that improve soil health. Practices known to improve soil health are reduced to no tillage, cover crop use- especially legumes, and addition of mulch and other organic materials. Soil health testing is not …

Development Of A Student-Perspective Based Scale On Instructor Approachability, Xin Zhao

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Students respond to instructor characteristics. Instructor approachability is one such characteristic that is often discussed yet inconsistently defined in the literature. The purpose of this study was to construct and validate a new measure, the Instructor Approachability Scale. The present study used a rationally derived process to generate a list of items that are representative of instructor approachability. Factor analysis was conducted to establish psychometrics for the scale. Regression analyses were then conducted to examine the impact of instructor approachability on several outcomes, including students’ help-seeking attitudes, satisfaction with the course, and mastery of course content. Several significant main …

The Effects Of Rootstock, Scion, Grafting Method And Plant Growth Regulators On Flexural Strength And Hydraulic Resistance Of Apple, Stuart W. Adams

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The apple rootstock ‘Geneva^® 41’ (‘G.41’), is desirable for its resistance to fire blight, Erwinia amylovora, while producing high yields. However, ‘G.41’ and other Geneva^® selections tend to form weak graft unions in the nursery that are susceptible to breaking in the wind, at harvest, or during shipment. In order to understand and remedy this graft union weakness, six scions (‘Fuji’, ‘Gala’, ‘Honeycrisp’, ‘McIntosh’, ‘Pink Lady’, and ‘Scilate’) by seven rootstocks (‘G.41’, ‘G.935’, ‘G.214’, ‘G.11’, ‘M.9-NIC 29’, ‘B.9’ and ‘EMLA 26’), by two grafting methods (chip bud and saddle graft) in a factorial design were tested for graft …

Suicide And Disability: Three Different Analyses Of A Nation-Wide Sample Of American Adults, Emily M. Lund

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Suicide is a major public health issue and the 10^th leading cause of death in the U.S. People with disabilities are one group that may be at high risk for suicide. This dissertation presents three studies that examined suicidal thoughts and behaviors in a national sample of individuals with and without disabilities. They also examined the ways in which depression scores and sociodemographic factors such as gender, religion, race, and employment, interact with disability status to influence suicidality. I found that people with disabilities reported more suicidal thoughts and suicide attempts and were more likely to believe that they …

Laboratory Experiences In Mathematical Biology For Post-Secondary Mathematics Students, Matthew Lewis

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

In addition to the memorization, algorithmic skills and vocabulary which is the default focus in many mathematics classrooms, professional mathematicians are expected to creatively apply known techniques, construct new mathematical approaches and communicate with and about mathematics. We propose that students can learn these professional, higher level skills through Laboratory Experiences in Mathematical Biology (LEMBs) which put students in the role of mathematics researcher creating mathematics to describe and understand biological data. LEMBs are constructed so they require no specialized equipment and can easily be run in the context of a college math class. Students collect data and develop mathematical …

Parenting Styles And Child Outcomes In Puerto Rican Families, Jeisianne Rosario Colón

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The purpose of this study was to evaluate observed parenting dimensions and styles among Puerto Rican parents living in Puerto Rico and its relationship to internalizing and externalizing child problems. Participants included 51 families with a child between the ages of 6 and 11. Families engaged in different behavioral observational tasks such as: making puzzles, recess, or solving a problem. The Parenting Styles Observation Rating Scale was used to code the observations and the Child Behavior Checklist was used to assess for behavioral problems. Overall, parents received high ratings on warmth, demandingness, and autonomy granting. Supportive demandingness was negatively associated …

The Effect Of Prosody On Preschool Children’S Emotional, Cognitive, And Behavioral-Eye And Behavioral-Body Engagement During Story Time, Trevor Rowe

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Many children have insufficient early literacy experiences and fail to obtain proficient emergent literacy before they enter kindergarten. Reading to young children has been positively linked to improving their emergent literacy. Numerous factors influence how engaged children are while being read to including the adult’s prosody, receptive vocabulary, and the home literacy environment. Using a quantitative quasi-experimental design, this study sought to understand the association among prosody, child engagement (emotional, cognitive, behavioral-eye, and behavioral-body), receptive vocabulary, and the home literacy environment. The sample included 76 3- to 5-year-old children from local child care centers and their parents. To understand the …

Assessing The Effectiveness Of Enhanced Psychological Care For Patients With Depressive Symptoms Attending Cardiac Rehabilitation Compared With Treatment As Usual (Cadence): Study Protocol For A Pilot Cluster Randomised Controlled Trial, Sh Richards, C Dickens, R Anderson, Da Richards, Et Al

School of Health Professions

BACKGROUND: Around 17% of people eligible for UK cardiac rehabilitation programmes following an acute coronary syndrome report moderate or severe depressive symptoms. While maximising psychological health is a core goal of cardiac rehabilitation, psychological care can be fragmented and patchy. This study tests the feasibility and acceptability of embedding enhanced psychological care, composed of two management strategies of proven effectiveness in other settings (nurse-led mental health care coordination and behavioural activation), within the cardiac rehabilitation care pathway. METHODS/DESIGN: This study tests the uncertainties associated with a large-scale evaluation by conducting an external pilot trial with a nested qualitative study. We …

A Christmas Carol (December 1-3, 2016), Charles Dickens

Student Theatre Programs

Program for A Christmas Carol.

To view the photos from this production of A Christmas Carol, please click here.

The Effectiveness Of Supply Chain Transparency Among Consumers, Audrey Mcclain

Supply Chain Management Undergraduate Honors Theses

This study seeks to understand the impact that a business’s level of transparency may have on consumers. Extant research and literature suggests a relationship between transparency and consumer confidence. However, though a relationship exists, there is reason to believe that many consumers do not use the transparency efforts they demand. This study hypothesizes that there is in fact a demand for transparency, but ultimately, consumers do not use the transparency efforts that they call for. A survey was created for the purpose of this study and its results were analyzed and then compared against the hypotheses laid out in the …

Determining Public Perceptions Toward Wildland Fire In The Veluwe Region Of The Netherlands, Amy Brennan

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Netherlands has been facing a growing threat of wildfires due to warmer

and drier weather patterns. The purpose of this study was to identify public

perceptions toward wildland fire in the forested Veluwe region of the country. The

Dutch have little experience with wildland fires or fire as a management tool. In a

collaborative effort between Stephen F. Austin State University and the Instituut

Fysieke Veiligheid, the Dutch public safety agency, a survey was distributed to

residents and visitors to the Veluwe to reveal and quantify public opinions and

perceptions regarding wildland fire and public expectations of government

agencies …

Instructional Leadership Practices Of Al Ain Public Secondary School Principals From The Teachers’ Perspectives, مها عبد الله سلامة

Theses

This study aims at identifying the perceptions of teachers in public schools in

Al Ain Educational Office about the frequency of principals’ practices of instructional leadership.

It also aims to discover the effect of gender on practicing instructional leadership. This quantitative study used Hallinger Principal Instructional Management Rating Scale (PIMRS). This scale consists of (71) subscales involving (11) dimensions in instructional leadership in its final Arabic form.

This study was been applied to (258) teachers from both genders. This study sample represents 43% of the study’s population. Results of this study indicates that: the first dimension, which is framing school …

From Development As Disaster To Disaster As Development: Lessons From The Marseille Plague Of 1720

UBC Law Review

No abstract provided.

Why Restrain Alienation Of Indigenous Lands

UBC Law Review

No abstract provided.

Multivariate Calibration Of A Load Sensor For Dynamic And Static Freight Railcar Applications, Dylan Michael Blackwell

Theses and Dissertations

Determination of the load carried by each bearing in a railcar system is crucial to the integrity of the railroad industry. With accurate load measurement, the process of filling a railcar with its specified cargo can be optimized to provide the maximum amount of cargo without exceeding the upper weight limits imposed by the Associations of American Railroads (AAR). An accurate load measurement will additionally make it possible to identify any load imbalance that occurs during periods of travel which result in having a detrimental effect on the health of the bearing. Previous work conducted with a strain-gauge load sensor …

Education Inequality: Broadening Public Attitudes Through Framing, Norman Eng

Publications and Research

Research over the last 50 years have been remarkably consistent when it comes to addressing education inequality: background factors like family and socioeconomics matter to school success. Yet policies remain narrowly focused on school-based reforms like testing, standards, and charter schools due in large part to America’s limited understanding of education and inequality. I argue that scholars, as the experts, are ultimately responsible for changing how policymakers and the public think about these issues—a duty they have yet to embrace. In this connection, the use of framing can help education researchers broaden attitudes and stimulate political will. Drawing mainly from …

Green For Liftoff: Structural Changes For Environmental And Economic Sustainability In Space Launching, Justin Fisch

Journal of Space Law

No abstract provided.

Regulating The Void: In‐Orbit Collisions And Space Debris, Timothy G. Nelson

Journal of Space Law

No abstract provided.

New Space Activities Expose A Potential Legal Vacuum, Susan J. Trepczynski

Journal of Space Law

No abstract provided.

Privacy Protection And Aggregate Health Data: A Review Of Tabular Cell Suppression Methods (Not) Employed In Public Health Data Systems, Gregory J. Matthews, Ofer Harel, Robert H. Aseltine Jr.

Mathematics and Statistics: Faculty Publications and Other Works

Public health research often relies on individuals’ confidential medical data. Therefore, data collecting entities, such as states, seek to disseminate this medical data as widely as possible while still maintaining the privacy of the individual for legal and ethical reasons. One common way in which this medical data is released is through the use of Web-based Data Query Systems (WDQS). In this article, we examined WDQS listed in the National Association for Public Health Statistics and Information Systems (NAPHSIS) specifically reviewing them for how they prevent statistical disclosure in queries that produce a tabular response. One of the most common …

Discrete Mutations In Colorectal Cancer Correlate With Defined Microbial Communities In The Tumor Microenvironment, Michael B. Burns, Emmanuel Montassier, Juan Abrahante, Timothy K. Starr, Dan Knights, Ran Blekhman

Biology: Faculty Publications and Other Works

Variation in the gut microbiome has been linked to colorectal cancer (CRC), as well as to host genetics. However, we do not know whether genetic mutations in CRC tumors interact with the structure and composition of the microbial communities surrounding the tumors, and if so, whether changes in the microbiome can be used as a predictor for tumor mutational status. Here, we characterized the association between CRC tumor mutational landscape and its proximal microbial communities by performing whole exome sequencing and microbiome profiling in tumors and normal colorectal tissue samples from the same patient. We find a significant association between …

Depressive Symptoms As A Longitudinal Predictor Of Sexual Risk Behaviors Among African American Adolescents: Findings From Project Imppacs, Jacklyn Babowitch

Dissertations - ALL

Research that clarifies individual level factors associated with sexual risk behavior among African American adolescents remains an important public health priority. The current study examined the longitudinal association of depressive symptoms to sexual risk behaviors, and determined whether the association of depressive symptoms to risky sex varies as a function of gender in a sample of African American adolescents. A secondary aim was to examine whether self-efficacy for sex refusal and condom use mediate the depression-sexual risk relationship. Data analyses focused on baseline and three-month assessments of depressive symptoms and sexual behaviors assessed for the previous three-months, including: (a) engagement …

Predicting Social Functioning In Young Adults With 22q11.2 Deletion Syndrome: A Longitudinal Study, Kayla Eileen Wagner

Dissertations - ALL

Background: The primary objectives of the current study were to (a) describe social functioning outcomes over a 9-year span in individual with 22q11.2 Deletion Syndrome (22q11.2DS) and (b) identify childhood predictors of social functioning in young adults with 22q11.2DS.

Method: Using data from a prospective longitudinal study, young adult social functioning was compared among individuals with 22q11.2DS, their siblings, and community controls. Childhood cognitive, emotional, and behavioral predictors of young adult social functioning were examined. In addition, the relationship between psychosis and social functioning was explored. Family environment and factors contributing to parental stress in adolescence were investigated as potential …

A New Method For Helping Chinese People Who Are Facing Retirement To Exert Greater Control Over Their Financial Resources, Xuanmu Yan

Dissertations - ALL

In China, personal financial advisers are not common. Chinese people who are facing retirement have a difficult time to plan for their retirement. This causes a very serious problem in China: many older Chinese do not have enough money in retirement. Therefore, my goal is to help Chinese people that are facing retirement without a detailed financial plan. In order to do so, I’ve conducted research to understand the long-term goals of those Chinese people. As a qualitative research approach, I've created three probes to explore the problems they are facing and the reasons why existing solutions do not work …

Three Empirical Essays On International Trade And Public Economics, Yusuf Kenan Bagir

Dissertations - ALL

This dissertation consists of three empirical essays on the economic impacts of various policy issues on Turkish labor market and international trade. Chapter 1 examines the employment and wage effects of the refugee influx from Syria on Turkish native labor. Results indicate statistically significant negative employment and wage effects on the low-skilled and less-experienced individuals especially in the border regions. The second chapter investigates the impact of the presence of foreign missions on trade. This study uses Turkey’s aggressive expansion in its foreign mission network as the source of variation and finds significant positive effect on both the exports and …

Laboratory Investigations Into The Fate Of Aromatic Pollutants In Natural Waters, Jarod Nathaniel Grossman

Dissertations - ALL

Condensed phases in the atmosphere, such as cloud droplets and aerosols, often contain both water and organic matter (OM). Reactivity can differ significantly between aqueous and organic phases. We have measured photolysis kinetics of the polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) anthracene and pyrene in several organic solvents and in water, in miscible and phase-separated aqueous-organic mixtures, in the presence of halide salts (NaCl, NaBr, and NaI), and in simulated seawater. Moreover, the roles of singlet oxygen and pH were investigated on the kinetics at atmospherically-relevant wavelengths. Photolysis rate constants generally increased with increasing solvent polarity. Our results suggest that OM could …

“Que(E)Rying Religious Activism: Culture, Identity, And The Politics Of Family In Unitarian Universalist Churches”, Karen E. Macke

Dissertations - ALL

Despite the longstanding debate about religion’s role in social movements, conservative religious opposition to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) social movement in the United States has limited sociological research in this area to questions of individual identity or the oppositional strategies used by religious and LGTBQ groups to sway public opinion and policy decisions. This dissertation addresses the less well-understood dynamics of mainstream religious group participation in LGBTQ social movement. Through frameworks of social movement theory, organizational culture, and queer theory, it explores the organizational elements shaping congregants’ practices in two Unitarian Universalist (UU) churches considered “Welcoming Congregations”. …

On The Design And Analysis Of Secure Inference Networks, Venkata Sriram Siddhardh Nadendla

Dissertations - ALL

Parallel-topology inference networks consist of spatially-distributed sensing agents that collect and transmit observations to a central node called the fusion center (FC), so that a global inference is made regarding the phenomenon-of-interest (PoI). In this dissertation, we address two types of statistical inference, namely binary-hypothesis testing and scalar parameter estimation in parallel-topology inference networks. We address three different types of security threats in parallel-topology inference networks, namely Eavesdropping (Data-Confidentiality), Byzantine (Data-Integrity) or Jamming (Data-Availability) attacks. In an attempt to alleviate information leakage to the eavesdropper, we present optimal/near-optimal binary quantizers under two different frameworks, namely differential secrecy where the difference …

Spartan Daily, December 1, 2016, San Jose State University, School Of Journalism And Mass Communications

Spartan Daily, 2016

Volume 147, Issue 38

The Inkwell, Armstrong State University

The Inkwell

No abstract provided.