Digital Commons Network^™

Displacement Measurement Using A Laser Doppler Vibrometer Mounted On An Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, Piyush Garg

Electrical and Computer Engineering ETDs

The railroad network in the united states is one of the best in the world, handling around 40 percent of all US freight movement. To maintain the serviceability and cost-effective operation of the railway infrastructure, regular monitoring is essential. Bridges are a critical part of the railway infrastructure and their timely maintenance and repair are important. Measuring transverse bridge displacement under train loading can assist to determine the bridge condition. The traditional methods available for transverse displacement measurement include Linear Variable Differential Transducers (LVDT). However, irregular terrain, remote and inaccessible locations, and the height of railroad bridges make implementation of …

Inferences About The Distribution, Merger Rate, And Evolutionary Processes Of Compact Binaries From Gravitational Wave Observations, Daniel Wysocki

Theses

We are living through the dawn of the era of gravitational wave astronomy. Our first glances through this new window upon the sky has revealed a new population of objects. Since it first began observing in late 2015, the advanced Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) has detected gravitational waves three times, along with an additional strong candidate -- and there shall be orders of magnitude more in the years to come. In all four cases, the waveform's signature is consistent with general relativity's predictions for the merging of two black holes. Through parameter estimation studies, estimates on features such as …

Exploring The Underlying Mechanisms Of Structure Building, Reshma Gouravajhala

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

Structure building, the ability to build a coherent mental model of any narrative, requires the identification and integration of important parts of that narrative, as well as the suppression of irrelevant details. Critically, while individual differences in structure building have been shown to have important consequences in the classroom, little has been concluded about underlying deficits and causal mechanisms of low structure building ability. In the present study, we tested the theory that an impaired ability to suppress unimportant details is low structure builders’ sole deficit (Gernsbacher, 1990). We presented participants with educationally authentic text materials that offered varying degrees …

A Right To Record: An Analysis Of The Legal Issues Surrounding Cell Phone Videos Of Police Violence, Katherine E. Milburn

Theses

Smartphones have become ubiquitous in modern society, increasing the likelihood of being caught on camera. On July 17th, 2014, a cell phone video of Staten Island police officers wrongfully killing Eric Garner reignited a national controversy on the nature of police violence, and set off a wave of citizen-surveillance through cell phones. By reviewing prior 1st and 4th Amendment court cases, I argue that citizens do indeed have a right to record on-duty police officers, and police do not have the right to conduct a warrantless search or seizure of a phone. Although a case involving citizen-surveillance of law enforcement …

A New Radio Spectral Line Survey Of Planetary Nebulae: Exploring Radiatively Driven Heating And Chemistry Of Molecular Gas, Jesse Bublitz

Theses

Planetary nebulae contain shells of cold gas and dust whose heating and chemistry is likely driven by UV and X-ray emission from their central stars and from wind-collision-generated shocks. We present the results of a survey of molecular line emissions in the 88 - 235 GHz range from nine nearby (

Season Of The Year Influences Infection Rates Following Total Hip Arthroplasty, Samuel Rosas, Alvin C. Ong, Leonard T. Buller, Karim G. Sabeh, Tsun Yee Law, Martin W. Roche, Victor H. Hernandez

Department of Orthopaedic Surgery Faculty Papers

To research the influence of season of the year on periprosthetic joint infections. METHODS We conducted a retrospective review of the entire Medicare files from 2005 to 2014. Seasons were classified as spring, summer, fall or winter. Regional variations were accounted for by dividing patients into four geographic regions as per the United States Census Bureau (Northeast, Midwest, West and South). Acute postoperative infection and deep periprosthetic infections within 90 d after surgery were tracked. RESULTS In all regions, winter had the highest incidence of periprosthetic infections (mean 0.98%, SD 0.1%) and was significantly higher than other seasons in the …

Bayesian Downscaling Methods For Aggregated Count Data, Clayton P. Michaud, Thomas W. Sproul

Environmental and Natural Resource Economics Faculty Publications

Policy-critical, micro-level statistical data are often unavailable at the desired level of disaggregation. We present a Bayesian methodology for “downscaling” aggregated count data to the micro level, using an outside statistical sample. Our procedure combines numerical simulation with exact calculation of combinatorial probabilities. We motivate our approach with an application estimating the number of farms in a region, using count totals at higher levels of aggregation. In a simulation analysis over varying population sizes, we demonstrate both robustness to sampling variability and outperformance relative to maximum likelihood. Spatial considerations, implementation of “informative” priors, non-spatial classification problems, and best practices are …

Translanguaging In Linguistically Diverse Classrooms: Theory To Practice, Madison N. Visser

Education

A new model for second-language learning, translanguaging, is emerging in recent years as an antithesis to the immersion model of language education. Translanguaging views language as a system and encourages the use of all of students' languages and language learning resources in the classroom. Translanguaging stands in stark contrast to the language-separation underpinning of the immersion model of language education. While there exists a growing quantity of research on the theoretical foundations of translanguaging, there is a very limited amount of published application of translanguaging principles to curriculum, especially in the linguistically diverse classroom. This project investigates translanguaging inside these …

Elim's Cultural Values: Reaffirming And Implementing Indigenous Values In Education, Samantha C. Marchant

Education

The curriculum project Elim's Cultural Values: Reaffirming and Implementing Indigenous Values in Education was brought to light through community-based participatory action research. Through informal interviews, survey analysis and discussions with local residents of Elim, Alaska; Elim's Cultural Values were identified and implemented into local curriculum. The Indigenous values of the community of Elim are a combination of both Yup'ik and Inupiaq heritage. These values have been carefully laid out into a set of forty separate lessons, (ten cultural value units) in which educators in the local school can implement culturally relevant lessons that connect with the Bering Strait School District …

Beverly Cross, Beverly Cross, Institute Of Child Nutrition. Child Nutrition Archives.

Oral History Project (all interviews)

One of the first hires for the new National Food Service Management Institute/Institute of Child Nutrition, Beverly Cross spent more than a quarter of a century working for the Institute. Here she shares her reflections as she prepares for her retirement in December 2017.

Silkat Arts And Place-Based Core Teaching Practice: Workshop Approach And Cultural Arts Units Development, Megan Ellis

Education

The work presented in this project is representative of the goals of the SILKAT (Sustaining Indigenous and Local Knowledge, Arts and Teaching) project, which is a collaborative effort between the University of Alaska Fairbanks and the Bering Strait School District, to create culturally responsive professional development for teachers, and cultural arts units for students. This work is the presentation of one professional development module for the core practice of having the ability to facilitate a workshop approach in the classroom where different students, or groups of students are doing different things at the same time. It is also a presentation …

Experimental And Numerical Simulation Of Hydraulic Fracturing, Mohammad Hoveidafar

Engineering

Hydraulic Fracturing (HF) has many applications in different fields such as stimulation of oil and gas reservoirs, in situ stress measurements, stress relief for tunneling projects as well as in underground mining applications such as block caving mining. In the HF process, high pressure fluid is injected into a well to generate fractures in tight rock formations. This technique is particularly suitable for developing hydrocarbon energy resources in tight rock formations such as shale with very low permeability. An experimental setup was designed and developed to simulate the HF process in the laboratory. Cubic plaster specimens were molded and HF …

Pedagogy For Reading In Rural Alaska: The Effect Of Culturally Relevant Reading Materials On Student Reading Achievement In Chevak, Alaska, Beth J. Geiges

Indigenous Studies

This study used Culturally Relevant Reading materials (CRRM) with a proprietary, culturally relevant pedagogy for Reading. It was focused on results in Reading Achievement, both reading fluency and comprehension, involving 7th and 8th grade students in a twelve (12)-week program of Reading Language Arts. It was an exploratory sequential mixed methods study using a quasi-experimental design, with two student groups, A and B, experimental and control respectively. The results are situated within cultural expert views of Native perspectives on reading from the community as well as student surveys on motivation. Results from the study indicate that student achievement in Reading …

Bringing Twygs To Life: Pace Based Lessons In An Adult Esl Classroom, Erica Harris

Linguistics

English grammar is a daunting subject for language learners and teachers alike. Traditionally, grammar is taught in an explicit manner in a teacher-fronted classroom. Rules are given and explained to students, who then practice with drills and example problems. As an alternative approach to teaching grammar, this project incorporates the PACE model (Presentation, Attention, Co-Construction, Extension) and task-based language teaching (TBLT). This method of teaching is a departure from traditional explicit-style teaching, and focuses more on the learner's role in the classroom than on the teacher's role. The PACE model uses stories to teach grammar, in this case English prepositions. …

Automatic Detection Of Sensor Calibration Errors In Mining Industry, Rambabu Pothina

Engineering

Sensor errors cost the mining industry millions of dollars in losses each year. Unlike gross errors, "calibration errors" are subtle, develop over time, and are difficult to identify. Economic losses start accumulating even when errors are small. Therefore, the aim of this research was to develop methods to identify calibration errors well before they become obvious. The goal in this research was to detect errors at a bias as low as 2% in magnitude. The innovative strategy developed relied on relationships between a variety of sensors to detect when a given sensor started to stray. Sensors in a carbon stripping …

Baseline Data Of Bird Populations In The Sierra Gorda Biosphere Reserve, Mexico: A Citizen Science Approach, Teresa S. Anderson

Natural Resources

This project tested the viability of converting a local environmental education group, "Eco Chavos" into a team of citizen scientists. In rural biosphere reserves in Mexico, with few resources and large resident populations, community-based biological inventory and monitoring has the potential to increase the impact of Mexican biosphere reserves by generating scientific information and engaging local residents in hands-on environmental education. To test this, I formed a citizen science birding group and trained them in bird identification, survey techniques, data collection, and data management. The project began in January 2016 and in December 2016 I stopped mentoring the program and …

Connecting Alaskans: Mixed-Use Safety And Accessibility Challenges In Rural Environments, Carrie L. Sorensen

Engineering

Connectivity in transportation networks, or lack thereof, is a challenge that many people have to deal with. Alaska has many rural communities that are inaccessible by conventional modes of transportation. In order for people to reach these communities and move between them unconventional modes of transportation are needed. However, very few studies have been done on unconventional transportation modes such as ATVs and snowmachines and the level to which they contribute to connecting people and how to help limit traumatic injuries of users. This study focuses on Alaska and three primary datasets. First, the Pacific North West Transportation Survey developed …

Fifty Years Of Cook Inlet Beluga Whale Ecology Recorded As Isotopes In Bone And Teeth, Mark A. Nelson

Marine Biology

Beluga whales (Delphinapterus leucas) are found across the Arctic and Subarctic in seasonally ice covered waters. Five stocks of beluga whales are associated with the waters near Alaska for at least part of the year and four of those five stocks are abundant and commonly hunted by Alaskan Natives. The belugas resident in Cook Inlet are also an important cultural and subsistence resource to Alaskan Natives in the area, but a ~50% decline in abundance in the 1990's led to the stock being designated as depleted under the Marine Mammal Protection Act in 2000 and listed as endangered under the …

Acceptability And Correlates Of Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis Use For Hiv Prevention Among High-Risk Drug Users In Treatment, Pramila Karki

Master's Theses

Background

Although people who use drugs (PWUD) are a key population recommended to receive pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) to prevent HIV, few data are available to guide PrEP delivery in this underserved group. We therefore examined the willingness to initiate PrEP, the anticipation of HIV risk reduction while on PrEP, and the acceptability of PrEP based on a number of known PrEP attributes among high-risk PWUD.

Methods

In a cross-sectional study of 400 HIV-negative, opioid dependent individuals enrolled in a methadone program and reporting recent risk behaviors, we examined independent correlates of being willing to initiate PrEP. Participants also ranked the …

Factors Influencing Maternal Involvement In Early Childhood: Exploring The Roles Of Maternal Stress And Children’S Narrative Representations Of Mothers, Rahmet Akpolat

Master's Theses

For children from low-income families, parent school involvement can be a crucial protective factor that supports children’s cognitive and emotional development. The present study seeks to explore how maternal stress in early childhood is associated with mothers’ later school involvement and whether children’s internalized positive, disciplinary and negative maternal representations act as potential mediators of this relationship. Currently, little research has been done on the contextual factors influencing parent school involvement in early childhood and this study aims to fill this gap in the literature. The data included 169 children and mothers from low-income families. Mothers completed questionnaires designed to …

Analysis Of A Newly Digitized Long-Term Dataset Of Environmental Observations From Long Island Sound, Jacob Snyder

Master's Theses

Project Oceanology, a non-profit oceanographic educational organization has been collecting data including pH, oxygen, and temperature conditions as well as abundances of benthic invertebrates and near-shore fish catches since 1972 from Eastern Long Island Sound. These data had been stored solely on single-copy paper sheets and were therefore inaccessible to analysis. I digitized more than 100,000 abiotic measurements and 50,000 species abundance and size data collected over the past 45 years, and developed a web-based SQL database housed on the Long Island Sound Integrated Coastal Observing System (LISICOS) server. The database will ultimately become a searchable, downloadable, user-friendly web-based tool …

Testing Environmental Dna Sampling And Predictive Modeling As Means To Investigate Wood Frog (Rana Sylvatica) Distribution In Alaska And Northern Canada, Mark Anthony Spangler

Biological Sciences

Global amphibian declines over the past 30+ years have led to a greater awareness of amphibian conservation issues. Few amphibian species occur in northern landscapes, however, and the species that do occur are widely dispersed and at the northern extent of their range. Accordingly, amphibian research is not prioritized in northern landscapes. Deficient monitoring practices have resulted in incomplete distribution knowledge that impedes the management of wood frogs (Rana sylvatica) in Alaska and northern Canada. I developed an environmental DNA detection assay to complement monitoring practices at the northern extent of the wood frog's range. This assay was tested to …

Assessing Seasonal Trends In Harbor Seal (Phoca Vitulina) Diet Using Stable Isotope Analysis Along The Whisker, Justin Arthur Smith

Biological Sciences

Harbor seals (Phoca vitulina) that use tidewater glaciers in the summers to molt, pup, and breed have declined in recent years, which could be attributed to reduced prey availability caused by regime shifts in the coastal marine environment. Recording seasonal dietary trends of harbor seals in different years could improve our ability to test if regime shifts caused these declines. However, such analysis has not been possible, because wild harbor seals are difficult to recapture. Stable isotope analysis of serial sections of growing whiskers (mystacial vibrissae) can be used as a tool to assess diet over different seasons, but uncertainty …

Music To Mend Heartache: Song Choices To Match, Change, And Distract Mood, Rhiannon Kallis, Anna V. Ortiz Juarez-Paz

The Qualitative Report

Romantic turmoil is something that most people experience in their life. When faced with an upsetting event, such as a breakup or fight with a partner, a person may turn to music to achieve a more desirable state of mind. The current study extended past research on music and coping by focusing specifically on a person’s use of music when they have emotional distress due to a romantic event. Ten interviews revealed the major theme “Music as a Tool,” regarding how people use music as social support. The first subtheme, Alliance with Mood, describes how participants used music as a …

Long Term Evaporation Pan Data To Estimate Potential Evaporation During The Warm Season On The Alaskan North Slope: Imnavait Creek Basin, John Paul Mumm

Engineering

Evapotranspiration plays a significant role in the hydrologic cycle of all basins, yet is only ccasionally measured in the Arctic. One simple index method to evaluate evapotranspiration is the evaporation pan. The energy environment surrounding the simple evaporation pan varies considerably from that of the natural environment. Yet, an evaporation pan is a sound way to determine and estimate the potential evapotranspiration, and actual evapotranspiration can be estimated from evaporation pan data by determining and employing a pan coefficient. An evaporation pan was initially installed in 1986 in the northern foothills of the Brooks Range on the North Slope of …

Tire Chain Damage On Bridge Deck Wearing Surfaces, Wilhelm Muench

Engineering

A light weight, durable, and damage-resistant material is needed as a wearing surface replacement for a two-lane bridge deck that is on a 6% grade. The wearing surface to be replaced is 9.2-m wide and is attached to an orthotropic closed cell steel deck that supported by two 155.9-cm wide by 414.0-cm deep steel box girders. This is a 699.5-m long six span bridge over the Yukon River located near the Arctic Circle on the gravel road section of the Dalton Highway. The bridge is located approximately 80 km north of Fairbanks, Alaska. The structure was designed in the early …

Hydrological, Sedimentological, And Meteorological Observations And Analysis On The Sagavanirktok River, H. Toniolo, E.K. Youcha, K.D. Tape, R. Paturi, J. Homan, A. Bondurant, I. Ladines, J. Laurio, D. Vas, J. Keech, T. Tschetter, E. Lamesjerant

WERC Project Reports

The Dalton Highway near Deadhorse was closed twice during late March and early April 2015 because of extensive overflow from the Sagavanirktok River that flowed over the highway. That spring, researchers from the Water and Environmental Research Center at the University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF) monitored the river conditions during breakup, which was characterized by unprecedented flooding that overtopped and consequently destroyed several sections of the Dalton Highway near Deadhorse. The UAF research team has monitored breakup conditions at the Sagavanirktok River since that time. Given the magnitude of the 2015 flooding, the Alyeska Pipeline Service Company started a long-term …

Improved Communication For Safer Patient Care: The Implementation Of Sbar, Amanda Dowden

Master's Projects and Capstones

This Clinical Nurse Leader (CNL) quality improvement project aims to improve the consistency of intradepartmental communication between Urgent Care Center (UCC) staff, through standardized SBAR patient hand-offs. The aim is to improve; (1) the consistency and clarity of patient hand-offs, (2) staff experience and satisfaction with communication during hand-offs, and (3) prevent adverse patient outcomes resulting from poor communication. As a safety net hospital, traditionally serving a predominately underserved, and underinsured, multicultural demographic, the UCC is designed to alleviate the Emergency Department (ED) of non-emergent patient encounters, providing a cost effective alternative, whilst adhering to Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor …

Quantifying Fisher Responses To Environmental And Regulatory Dynamics In Marine Systems, Jordan T. Watson

Fisheries

Commercial fisheries are part of an inherently complicated cycle. As fishers have adopted new technologies and larger vessels to compete for resources, fisheries managers have adapted regulatory structures to sustain stocks and to mitigate unintended impacts of fishing (e.g., bycatch). Meanwhile, the ecosystems that are targeted by fishers are affected by a changing climate, which in turn forces fishers to further adapt, and subsequently, will require regulations to be updated. From the management side, one of the great limitations for understanding how changes in fishery environments or regulations impact fishers has been a lack of sufficient data for resolving their …

Spatial Transferability Assessment Of A Composite Walkability Index: The Pedestrian Index Of The Environment (Pie), Gabriel Lefebvre-Ropars, Catherine Morency, Patrick A. Singleton, Kelly J. Clifton

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

This paper analyzes the transferability of a composite walkability index, the Pedestrian Index of the Environment (PIE), to the Greater Montréal Area (GMA). The PIE was developed in Portland, Oregon, and is based on proprietary data. It combines six urban form variables into a score ranging from 20 to 100. The measure introduces several methodological refinements which have not been applied concurrently in previous efforts: a wide coverage of the different dimensions of the urban form, together with the use of a distance-based decay function and modelling-based weighing of the variables.