Digital Commons Network^™

A Qualitative Analysis Of A Team's Experience Of Coping With Bereavement After The Death Of A Head Coach, Matthew Paul Gonzalez

Master's Theses

The consequences of coping with death as an athlete have been documented in the literature by a variety of studies. However, these studies have remained largely focused on coping with the death of a teammate. This study examined the inter- and intrapersonal impact of experiencing the death of a head coach. Experiencing the death of a head coach during the season may have profound and varied psychosocial consequences for all members of a team. A collegiate team was identified as having experienced the death of its head coach during his tenure and from that team five participants (four players and …

Diet Induced Obesity Alters Muscle Spindle Afferent Function In Adult Mice, Lubayna Elahi

Master's Theses

Individuals with obesity are more likely to fall and exhibit balance instability. The reason for this is likely multifactorial, but there is some evidence that sensory function is impaired during obesity. We tested the hypothesis that muscle proprioceptor function is compromised in a mouse model of diet induced obesity. We used an in vitro muscle-nerve preparation to record muscle spindle afferent responses to physiological stretch and sinusoidal vibration. We compared the responses of mice on a control diet (10% kcal fat) with those eating a high fat diet (60% kcal fat) alone or in combination with either aspirin (120mg/kg/day in …

Visual-Linguistic Semantic Alignment: Fusing Human Gaze And Spoken Narratives For Image Region Annotation, Preethi Vaidyanathan

Theses

Advanced image-based application systems such as image retrieval and visual question answering depend heavily on semantic image region annotation. However, improvements in image region annotation are limited because of our inability to understand how humans, the end users, process these images and image regions. In this work, we expand a framework for capturing image region annotations where interpreting an image is influenced by the end user's visual perception skills, conceptual knowledge, and task-oriented goals. Human image understanding is reflected by individuals' visual and linguistic behaviors, but the meaningful computational integration and interpretation of their multimodal representations (e.g. gaze, text) remain …

Automated Grading And Feedback Of Regular Expressions, Himesh Kakkar

Theses

To keep up with the current spread of education, there has arisen the need to have automated tools to evaluate assignments. As a part of this thesis, we have developed a technique to evaluate assignments on regular expressions (regexes). Every student is different and so is their solution, thus making it hard to have a single approach to grade it all. Hence, in addition to the existing techniques, we offer a new way of evaluating regexes. We call this the regex edit distance. The idea behind this is to find the minimal changes that we could make in a wrong …

A Novel 3d Printed Leg Design For A Biped Robot, Matthew A. Haywood

Theses

This paper proposes a novel leg design for a humanoid robot that can be 3D printed. More explicitly, the efforts of this paper are to bring some of the more complex leg designs seen in large scale bipedal robot into the realm of smaller bipeds while still allowing for it to be easily reproducible or modified. In order to accomplish this 3D printing technology was utilized, as well as an iterative design process. An ankle and knee powered by linear actuators were first constructed to test the conceptual design of the leg. This was followed by a complete leg design …

Patenting Frankenstein's Monster: Exploring The Patentability Of Artificial Organ Systems And Methodologies, Jordana Goodman

Faculty Scholarship

The conception of Frankenstein’s monster bridges the ever-narrowing divide between man and machine. Long before Congress codified Section 33(a) of the America Invents Act (“AIA”), Mary Shelley’s vague description of the monster’s creation has left people wondering: what defines a human organism? Through an analysis of patent law and scientific progress in the development of artificial organ systems, this paper explores the boundaries of patentable subject matter in the United States and attempts to clarify Congress’s determination that “no patent may issue on a claim directed to or encompassing a human organism.” Though patent law should incentivize development of artificial …

Towards Patent Standardization, Janet Freilich, Jay P. Kesan

Faculty Scholarship

Among the most important purposes of patents are to provide clear notice to third parties of the patent's boundaries and to disclose helpful information to researchers seeking to replicate or further develop the patented invention. Unfortunately, patents often fail at both of these tasks, in part because of lack of uniformity of language and format.' Use of idiosyncratic language in patent claims renders it difficult to find relevant patents and, once a patent is found, to interpret its claims. As there is no customary set of information that must always be included in a patent, researchers often find reading a …

Evaluating Hourly Rainfall Characteristics Over The U.S. Great Plains In Dynamically Downscaled Climate Model Simulations Using Nasa-Unified Wrf, Huikyo Lee, Duane E. Waliser, Robert Ferraro, Takamichi Iguchi, Christa D. Peters-Lidard, Baijun Tian, Paul C. Loikith, Daniel B. Wright

Geography Faculty Publications and Presentations

Accurate simulation of extreme precipitation events remains a challenge in climate models. This study utilizes hourly precipitation data from ground stations and satellite instruments to evaluate rainfall characteristics simulated by the NASA-Unified Weather Research and Forecasting (NU-WRF) regional climate model at horizontal resolutions of 4, 12, and 24 km over the Great Plains of the United States. We also examined the sensitivity of the simulated precipitation to different spectral nudging approaches and the cumulus parameterizations. The rainfall characteristics in the observations and simulations were defined as an hourly diurnal cycle of precipitation and a joint probability distribution function (JPDF) between …

Electronic Journal Of Knowledge Management: A Bibliometric Analysis, Jyotshna Sahoo, Ghanashyam Meher, Basudev Mohanty

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

The Electronic Journal of Knowledge Management (EJKM) is an online open access peer-reviewed journal that publishes articles with regard to the development of both theory and practice in the field of Knowledge Management. The present paper examines the articles published in EJKM during the period from 2003-13 for identifying the publication output, authorship pattern, degree of collaboration, most prolific contributors, geographical distribution of papers, referencing pattern, self citation pattern and several other characteristics. The results of this study reveal that that the year 2009 is the most productive year, research papers are given more importance than other categories of publications. …

Digital Literacy Skills Of Undergraduate Students In Nigeria Universities, Azeez Adebamgbola Adeoye, Basirat Jumoke Adeoye

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

Influence of digital technology in our educational system cannot be overemphasized. Hardly can any undergraduate student survive in tertiary institution without basic skills and knowledge of digital technology. The composite skills require for student to fit into digital environment in achieving his/her academic pursuit is digital literacy skill. This prompted the study on the digital literacy skills of undergraduate students of Federal Universities in Southwest, Nigeria.

Research design employed for this study was the descriptive survey design. The population for this study was 60,997 undergraduate students of Obafemi Awolowo University, University of Ibadan and University of Lagos. However, multiple stage …

Sedimentary Innovation: How Regulation Should Respond To Incremental Change, Cristie Ford

All Faculty Publications

As captivating as paradigm-changing "radical" innovations may be, “sedimentary”, or incremental, innovation – incremental improvements based on imitation, tweaking, bricolage and diffusion – are in fact the main way in which innovation actually develops. In finance, sedimentary innovation is shaped by forces including structural and social networks, a strong first mover advantage, and collective action problems. This piece, which is Chapter 8 in a forthcoming book that considers financial innovation as a regulatory challenge, examines sedimentary innovation in particular. Like innovation generally, sedimentary innovation can profoundly undermine regulation across time. It can bury structures designed to contain it and can …

The Effect Of Repetitive Text Messages On The Retention Of Knowledge Among Clinical Staff, Judy Bowling

All Publications

No abstract provided.

By Need And By Name: School Leaders Fostering Environments For Grandparents Raising Grandchildren, Rebecca G. Roach

Theses and Dissertations--Education Sciences

Children raised by their grandparents are a steadily growing demographic in schools throughout the United States. When parents are unable to care for their children, grandparents sometimes assume the role of primary caregiver. This is especially true when they are faced with the threat of placing their grandchildren in the foster care system. More often than not, these grandparents are not adequately prepared for the challenges of raising children who have lost their parent through death, drug abuse or incarceration and few resources exist to guide elementary school principals to engage this demographic. Regardless of the growing numbers of caregiving …

Support Networks Of “Educational Pioneers”: A Methodological Approach For Examining The Impact Of A Residential Learning Community On First-Generation Students, Ryan R. Setari

Theses and Dissertations--Educational Policy Studies and Evaluation

The purpose of this study is to demonstrate the use of social network analysis to examine the peer involvement and supportive relationships of students living within an exclusively first-generation RLC. Using network surveys targeted toward a first-generation population, the networks of first-year residents were visualized and measured. The supportive peer relationships that provided students with encouragement, validation, and academic assistance were identified, as well as the networks for friendship and study partnership. The networks identified for this study were examined to find if change occurred between the start and the end of the semester. Multiple regression QAPs were performed to …

The Exploration Of Teacher Efficacy And Influences Of Context At Two Rural Appalachian High Schools, Justin Aaron Blevins

Theses and Dissertations--Educational Policy Studies and Evaluation

This study examines teachers’ sense of personal and collective efficacy in two similar schools in Appalachian communities that achieved different results regarding students’ accountability test scores. Prior work in teacher efficacy, which is predominantly quantitative, is extended by the addition of teacher interviews that explore how teachers define the problems they face regarding student performance and how they work individually and collectively on strategies to support students’ success. The findings support that teachers with higher levels of efficacy in their work are associated with higher levels of student success. Further, the study offers insights into how teachers perceive problems and …

Determined To Make A Difference: A Qualitative Study Of College Women Student Leaders, Heather Yattaw Wagoner

Theses and Dissertations--Educational Policy Studies and Evaluation

While research has grown related to the experiences of gender and leadership in the workplace, little research exists on the experiences of gender and leadership in collegiate student organization settings. This study explores the experiences of college women holding executive leadership roles in highly visible on-campus registered student organizations. More specifically, the study seeks understanding of how social role expectancies interfaced with the women’s perceptions and experiences as college leaders.

Data were generated with undergraduate women leaders at a large, public research institution in the southeast during the fall of 2014 using qualitative methods including individual interviews, group interviews, and …

Using Student Characteristics, Student Spatial-Content Knowledge, And Teacher Spatial-Content Knowledge To Predict Student Spatial-Content Knowledge Of Lunar Phases, Kyle A. Curry

Theses and Dissertations--Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) Education

Student demographic characteristics of gender and race/ethnicity, students’ spatial-content knowledge as measured by pre-instructional performance on the Lunar Phases Concept Inventory (LPCI) (Lindell & Olsen), and post-instructional performance on the Purdue Visualization of Rotations Test (PSVT) (Bodner & Guay, 1997), and teachers’ spatial-content knowledge as measured by the two assessments were considered to predict students’ overall understanding of lunar phases as measured by post-instructional results on the LPCI. A mixed modeling approach was used in a hierarchal manner to evaluate the student learning outcomes. Results showed that student gender was not a significant predictor of post-instructional student performance, but students …

Enhancing The Culture Of Professional Learning In A High Performing School, Ann Elizabeth Ingram

Theses and Dissertations--Educational Leadership Studies

Essential transformations within a school culture that ensure organizational learning take place at the individual, group, and organizational levels. With the recent implementation of the Teacher Professional Growth and Effectiveness System, Kentucky teachers have experienced change in their organization, but may have not yet changed their professional practice. This recently revised framework for teacher evaluation requires teachers to reflect on their practice, create professional growth plans, seek opportunities for professional development, set goals for student academic growth, analyze student progress, and participate in observations conducted by a peer and their principal. The framework for teachers centers on the belief that …

Factors That Affect African-American Students' Persistence In A Spanish Immersion Program, Dawn Cheneen Offutt

Theses and Dissertations--Curriculum and Instruction

The number of African-American students studying a foreign language has continually persisted to be low (National Center for Education Statistics, 2009), thus eliminating them from the benefits gained from the study of foreign language. This study explores the experiences of African-American students in a partial Spanish Immersion Program (SIP) in Central Kentucky from their parents’ perspectives. Data were collected via a survey and a focus group. Findings revealed that data gleaned from the focus group corroborated responses from the survey. Moreover, themes from content analysis of the qualitative data arose as to why parents chose to continue or discontinue their …

City Of Gresham Stormwater Retrofit Master Plan, Teresa F. Huntsinger

Civil and Environmental Engineering Master's Project Reports

The Stormwater Retrofit Master Plan identifies more than 50 stormwater retrofit project opportunities across three watersheds in the City of Gresham. The retrofit projects are prioritized in a scoring system to evaluate the costs and benefits of diverse project sizes and types. Project types range from bioswales and planters in city parking lots and along arterial roads, to regional end-of-pipe facilities and retrofits of existing detention ponds. Top projects will move forward for further assessment, design and construction, helping the city achieve its water quality improvement goals. The scoring system may be used to evaluate additional projects in the future.

Trace Metals In Stormwater: Alternative Best Management Practices, Jennifer Ibeth Mora

Civil and Environmental Engineering Master's Project Reports

Heavy metals, such as copper (Cu) and zinc (Zn), are considered hazardous in natural waters due to their toxicity and non-biodegradability. The focus of this study is to use batch experiments to investigate the heavy metal (Cu and Zn) removal efficiency of perlite and Earthlite^TM to improve in-situ filtration systems for stormwater catchment basins. Stormwater samples from two field sites in Portland, OR, chosen to represent a high-use commercial site and high-traffic urban road, were characterized to inform experimental design and compare to values found in literature. The Linear, Freundlich, and Langmuir isotherm models were used to describe equilibrium …

The T6a Modification Acts As A Positive Determinant For The Anticodon Nuclease Prrc, And Is Distinctively Nonessential In Streptococcus Mutans, Jo Marie Bacusmo, Silvia S. Orsini, Jennifer Hu, Michael Demott, Patrick C. Thiaville, Ameer Elfarash, Mellie June Paulines, Diego Rojas-Benítez, Birthe Meineke, Christopher Deutsch, Dirk Iwata-Reuyl, Patrick A. Limbach, Peter C. Dedon, Kelly C. Rice, Stewart Shuman, Valérie De Crécy-Lagard

Chemistry Faculty Publications and Presentations

Endoribonuclease toxins (ribotoxins) are produced by bacteria and fungi to respond to stress, eliminate non-self competitor species, or interdict virus infection. PrrC is a bacterial ribotoxin that targets and cleaves tRNALys UUU in the anticodon loop. In vitro studies suggested that the post-transcriptional modification threonylcarbamoyl adenosine (t⁶A) is required for PrrC activity but this prediction had never been validated in vivo. Here, by using t⁶A-deficient yeast derivatives, it is shown that t⁶A is a positive determinant for PrrC proteins from various bacterial species. Streptococcus mutans is one of the few bacteria where the t …

Glacial Deposits, Vol. 42, 2017, Department Of Geography, Geology, And The Environment

Glacial Deposits

Newsletter of the Department of Geography, Geology, and the Environment

Campus Sustainability Office Annual Report, 2016-2017, Campus Sustainability Office

Campus Sustainability Office Publications, Reports and Presentations

The Campus Sustainability Office 2016-2017 annual report.

Psu Green Building Summer Internship Final Presentation, 2017, Campus Sustainability Office

Campus Sustainability Office Publications, Reports and Presentations

RESEARCH QUESTION: Is duct cleaning beneficial in terms of energy efficiency and overall occupant comfort?

Battle For Dominion Over Time: War Of The Calendars In Thailand, Ronald J. Brown

New York School for Career and Applied Studies (NYSCAS) Publications and Research

My annual January “get out of cold New York City” vacation was effectively ruined in the lounge of the Unification Theological Seminary. Shortly before I left for Thailand at the end of December 2016 I was describing my plans for a month in sunny Thailand when a student said “Oh, you’ll be in Bangkok for New Year’s. That should be wild!” Another student chimed in “And the Chinese New Year’s too!” “Double the fun and double the pleasure,” I responded, and everyone laughed.

The comment that ruined my vacation and turned it from a month of cheap red wine, beaches, …

Sports Analytics : Using Logistic Regression To Explore The Determining Factors Of The Nfl, Ethan Doll

Undergraduate Theses and Senior Projects

No abstract provided.

Mapping The Nonstationary Internal Tide With Satellite Altimetry, Edward Zaron

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

t Temporal variability of the internal tide has been inferred from the 23 year long combined records of the TOPEX/Poseidon, Jason-1, and Jason-2 satellite altimeters by combining harmonic analysis with an analysis of along-track wavenumber spectra of sea-surface height (SSH). Conventional harmonic analysis is first applied to estimate and remove the stationary components of the tide at each point along the reference ground tracks. The wavenumber spectrum of the residual SSH is then computed, and the variance in a neighborhood around the wavenumber of the mode-1 baroclinic M2 tide is interpreted as the sum of noise, broadband nontidal processes, and …

The Statewide Standard, 2017, College Of Education

The Statewide Standard

No abstract provided.

Twenty-First Century Climate Change And Submerged Aquatic Vegetation In A Temperate Estuary: The Case Of Chesapeake Bay, Thomas M. Arnold, Richard C. Zimmerman, Katharina A.M. Engelhardt, J. Court Stevenson

OES Faculty Publications

Introduction: The Chesapeake Bay was once renowned for expansive meadows of submerged aquatic vegetation (SAV). However, only 10% of the original meadows survive. Future restoration effortswill be complicated by accelerating climate change, including physiological stressors such as a predicted mean temperature increase of 2-6°C and a 50-160% increase in CO2 concentrations.

Outcomes: As the Chesapeake Bay begins to exhibit characteristics of a subtropical estuary, summer heat waves will become more frequent and severe. Warming alone would eventually eliminate eelgrass (Zostera marina) from the region. It will favor native heat-tolerant species such as widgeon grass (Ruppia maritima) while facilitating colonization by …