Digital Commons Network^™

The Nation As Corporation: British Colonialism And The Pitfalls Of Postcolonial Nationhood In Nigeria, Benjamin Maiangwa, Muhammad Dan Suleiman, Chigbo Arthur Anyaduba

Peace and Conflict Studies

This article re-examines the British colonial policy of indirect rule in Nigeria. Moving away from extant scholarly attention on this colonial policy that focuses on governance through local or native authorities, we focus rather on British colonial rule through imperial companies. We argue that the British colonist did not conceive of or organize “Nigeria” as a “nation”, rather it was administered as a business enterprise in which the Crown depended on companies to “govern” its Nigerian colonies. Accordingly, the idea of the nation as a business enterprise defined its subjects and resources in ways that produced problematic notions of nationhood …

Revisiting Refugee Caps: A Legislative Proposal For Executive-Congressional Compromise, Jason Gardiner, Tyler Day

Brigham Young University Prelaw Review

The current system for setting the annual refugee admissions cap calls for consultation between the president and Congress; however, that consultation is not happening to the extent prescribed by the Refugee Act of 1980, an amendment to the Immigration and Nationality Act (the INA). We propose that the INA be modified such that the Committees on the Judiciary in the Senate and the House of Representatives must approve the president's proposed refugee cap by a two-thirds majority. Given the steadily worsening refugee crisis, this legislation is both timely and important. Our proposal will foster compromises between the executive and legislative …

Airflow Path And Flow Pattern Analysis Of Sub-Micron Particulate Contaminants In A Data Center With Hot Aisle Containment System Utilizing Direct Air Cooling, Satyam Saini

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Theses - Archive

The percentage of the energy used by data centers for cooling their equipment has been on the rise. With it has been the necessity for exploring new and more efficient methods, both from an engineering as well as business point of view, to contain this energy demand. The PCB boards are becoming more densely populated with multitude of smaller hardware on them, thereby, increasing its cooling requirements. Literature suggests that almost 40% of the total energy consumption in a typical Data Center is used for cooling purposes. Air cooling has always been the first choice for IT companies to cool …

Emerging Grassroots Energy Communities: An Assemblage Theory Analysis, Ali Mohammed Adil

Public Affairs Dissertations - Archive

In context of the federal leadership vacuum in the United States on climate action and sustainable energy development and consequent subnational policy and regulatory variations, the rise of citizen-led grassroots energy communities (GECs) is increasingly considered as a countervailing civic force in the mainstream energy system. However, as grassroots attempts to transform the carbon-intensive, centralized energy system gain in prominence, attracting broad-based support and generating a multitude of social organization and governance models, citizen advocacy, activism and on-the-ground local projects encounter varying socio-cultural, policy and regulatory support structures across urban and regional landscapes leading to disparate outcomes. Yet, the advent …

Evaluation Of The Seasonal Variation In Hydraulic Conductivity For An Evapotranspiration Cover System, Lucas Hoyos Cadavid

Civil Engineering Theses - Archive

The purpose of landfill cover systems is to minimize, and if possible prevent the interaction of the environment with the buried waste mass. In this effort, one of the most prevalent parameters to control is the percolation of rainfall through the cover system into the waste mass. In addition to this, if the cover system utilizes an evapotranspiration or water balance cover, understanding this parameter becomes especially important. This type of system relies on the ability of the soil to retain moisture and the natural process through which vegetation transports water from its roots to the atmosphere. Consequently, the percolation …

Seismic Analysis And Petrophysical Evaluation Of The Pennsylvanian Rasberry Reef Phylloid Algal Carbonate Mounds In The Knox-Baylor Trough, Knox County, Texas, William Hoffman

Earth & Environmental Sciences Theses - Archive

The Ellis Ranch Wildcat field in Knox County, Texas produces from an isolated carbonate platform located on the northern flank of the Knox-Baylor Trough. The platform is composed of the Desmoinesian aged Caddo Limestone and Rasberry Reef. The Rasberry Reef contains aragonitic, phylloid algal bafflestone mounds that form excellent hydrocarbon reservoirs. Aragonitic grains are prone to dissolution during burial and generate vuggy, intragranular porosity that enhances reservoir quality and connectivity. Similarly aged Caddo mounds have been drilled in Stephens County just southeast and on the opposite flank of the Knox-Baylor Trough. A forty-five foot core section was cut from the …

Correlation Between Agricultural Land Cover And Groundwater Nitrate Contamination In Big Bat Cave, Kentucky., Brandt T. Coleman

College of Arts & Sciences Senior Theses

No abstract provided.

Improving Demand Modeling In California's Rail Transit System, Rui Liu

Mineta Transportation Institute

This paper analyzes urban rail-fare elasticity and compares the results across four California transit systems. A method of Internet search is adopted to collect monthly transit-fare records from 2002 to 2013. This paper contributes towards improving demand modeling for public transit using more precise and monthly data and applies econometric techniques involving autoregressive integrated moving average (ARIMA) and panel data models. Results show that demand for public transit in California is very inelastic. Any ridership promotion policy may have a heterogeneous impact across transit systems.

Establishing A Central Archive For Transit Passenger Data, Gregory Newmark, Hilary Nixon

Mineta Transportation Institute

This report describes the rationale, background, establishing organization, and future steps of CATPAD, the Central Archive for Transit Passenger Data. The Central Archive for Transit Passenger Data is a repository that collects, indexes, archives, and makes available online the transit survey instruments, data, and reports collected across the country. This resource is unique in its focus on the disaggregated information of individual transit users – information that is critical for a range of transportation planning analyses. In addition, where available, CATPAD contains aggregated information, such as station boardings and service and fare schedules, to provide key context for the disaggregate …

Fair Trade And Its Value In Today’S Globalized Economy, Kristen Unangst

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

My capstone examines how fair trade can operate in today’s globalized economy and how it can aid in solving some of the large problems that globalization has created. This paper is structured in the following way. It first examines globalization and the ways that it has advanced the world today. Then, it ventures into the problems that globalization has created and how they can be repaired using fair trade. This paper also looks into how fair trade has been successful in the recent past and how it can be improved in the future. It especially highlights how profitable fair trade …

Deviance And The Divine Madness, Jeremy Dubhrós

2018 Spring Honors Capstone Projects - Archive

Society is governed by a set of social norms and schemas. Deviance, or transgressing these values, usually results in a loss of social status or even possible stigma. However, there are situations where the transgression does not negatively impact social status and may at times actually increase prestige and social power. Plato describes several such examples where the individual had abandoned rationality and should be considered insane, but where that madness was ultimately beneficial. He separated these forms of madness from ‘common’ madness caused by disease and argued that they were divinely inspired. Though often viewed in a classic context, …

Decentering Neo-Bohemia In The Creative City: Cultural Marginalization, Economic Violence, And An Alternative Agenda Of Diverse Cultural Scenes, James Murdoch

Planning Dissertations - Archive

Creative cities policy is an approach that advocates the planned development of consumption-oriented, mixed-use urban neighborhoods supporting artistic activity and a vibrant nightlife to create economic benefits. The literature labels these neighborhoods 'neo-bohemia' because they combine the gritty, authentic lifestyle of bohemian artists with a contemporary consumption culture of cafes, bars, galleries, and other arts spaces. Many, however, critique creative cities policy, suggesting it leads to gentrification and neighborhood commodification, and ignores the economic and cultural value of places that are not neo-bohemian. I apply the critical theory of J.K. Gibson-Graham (2006) to decenter the concept of neo-bohemia in the …

Sallie Brooke Capps: Education Trailblazer In North Texas, Joshua Vincent Chanin

History Theses - Archive

This thesis closely examines the life of Sallie Brooke Capps (1864-1946), a liberal-feminist progressive reformer who passionately advocated for better academic opportunities for young white women and children in North Texas during the first-half of the twentieth century. At a time when women seldom held leadership positions and instead trained to lead lives as domestic household managers, Capps found a way to combine both. Moreover, her support for the education profession opened the door for many young women who came after her to attend college and become successful teachers and administrators. As the vice-president of the Texas Congress of Mothers …

Rattlesnake Genomics Illustrate Patterns Of Speciation, Adaptation, And Links Between Genome Structure And Function, Drew Roberts Schield

Biology Dissertations - Archive

Understanding the origins of species and biological novelties that allow them to thrive in diverse environments is a key goal in evolutionary biology, and new genomic methods are constantly enabling research using non-model species to address important questions related to speciation and adaptation. Using phylogeographic, population genetic, and comparative genomic methods, I demonstrate that North American rattlesnakes are a uniquely enriched system for investigating patterns and processes at the intersection of adaptation and speciation. Specifically, this dissertation explores the evolution of biological novelty at multiple scales, including the origins of reproductive incompatibilities during the process of gene flow in secondary …

Impacts Of Hydroelectric Dams On Aquatic Macroinvertebrate Oviposition Strategies: The Role Of Desiccation, Jesse R. Fleri

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

Previous studies quantifying the density, distribution and diversity of aquatic insects overwhelmingly focus on larval life stages. However, many aquatic insects exhibit selective oviposition behaviors, with a preference for emergent substrates along a river's edge. The practice of hydropeaking creates an artificial intertidal zone that is absent from natural rivers and to which freshwater organisms are not adapted. We hypothesized that this novel disturbance could reduce the availability and temporal persistence of oviposition habitats resulting in egg mortality. To test this hypothesis, we quantified the oviposition behavior of four aquatic insects using a hierarchical field survey of habitat availability and …

Stories Behind The Berlin Wall: Lesson Modules, Nicholas Redmon

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

I have grappled with my primary collection just as scholars and popular authors have with bringing these stories together with political histories. My goal is to create a digital map and analysis on specific themes like education and guard duty from the lives lived behind the Wall and their discourse with the government. I would like to explore how the divide impacted lives in 1961, created a GDR Society, and produced a division still felt in Germany today. The target audience of this project is U.S. students in high school and higher education. Students will be able to access timely …

Assessing Variation In Air Quality Perception: A Case Study In Utah, Karen Jayne Mendenhall

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

In recent years, Utah has experienced poor air quality due to pollution-trapping winter inversions and summer ozone pollution. The resulting impacts of poor air quality include health issues, reduced visibility, economic impacts and ecological impacts. Utah’s topography and exploding urban population are factors which increase human exposure to these adverse impacts of air pollution. It is important for State and local governments to understand how people perceive air quality so that clean air campaigns target those who are most likely to foster pro-environmental behaviors. An analysis was conducted using data from a state-wide survey conducted in July 2017. The survey …

The Plausibility Of Animal Sacrifices In Ezekiel 40-48 Literally Operating In The Millennial Kingdom Under The New Covenant, Ian Bacon

Masters Theses

This thesis delves into the controversy surrounding the presence of animal sacrifices in Ezekiel 40-48. In these chapters Ezekiel depicts a temple that dispensationalists believe to be literally fulfilled in the Millennial Kingdom.Yet, some claim that a literal understanding of these sacrifices in the future negates the work of Jesus on the cross. The response by many dispensationlists is to argue that these sacrifices will be performed to memorialize the death of Jesus. This thesis proves that the sacrifices in Ezekiel 40-48 are for purification purposes to atone for the contamination of sin so that the glory of Christ may …

Art Therapy And Art History Theories, An Inquiry, Hannah L. Masters

LMU Theses and Dissertations

This research uses critical theory inquiry with interviews and arts-based research to explore biases about art making in clinical art therapy practice. The literature review establishes an historical link between theoretical tenets in fields of art therapy and art history. Participants are chosen from experts in the fields of art therapy and art history. Interviews explore what art making means to each participant, utilizing both verbal and arts-based processing. The data is condensed through coding and arts-based reflection, and seven emergent themes are identified. The themes are checked with the participants for accuracy. The findings of the paper integrate the …

Art & Agency: Transforming Relationships Of Power Through Art In Iraqi Kurdistan, Autumn Cockrell-Abdullah

Doctor of International Conflict Management Dissertations

Today, the Kurds factor significantly both as a key to some of the most critical conflicts in the Middle East and also as citizens of the world interacting with a highly global, highly interconnected reality. Despite their importance, we lack a nuanced understanding of the complex and multi-layered cultural context of the Kurds that impacts the socio-political factors inside Iraqi Kurdistan.

The deeply entrenched political rhetoric of the hegemonic Kurdish nationalist narrative in Iraqi Kurdistan has served to homogenize the idea of what the Kurdish “nation” is, to whitewash deep social, economic and political concerns inside Iraqi Kurdistan and to …

University Of Southern Maine Commencement Program 2018, University Of Southern Maine

Commencement Programs

University of Southern Maine Commencement 2018

Applying Place-Based Social-Ecological Research To Address Water Scarcity: Insights For Future Research, Jodi Brandt

Human-Environment Systems Research Center Faculty Publications and Presentations

Globally, environmental and social change in water-scarce regions challenge the sustainability of social-ecological systems. WaterSES, a sponsored working group within the Program for Ecosystem Change and Society, explores and compares the social-ecological dynamics related to water scarcity across placed-based international research sites with contrasting local and regional water needs and governance, including research sites in Spain and Sweden in Europe, South Africa, China, and Alabama, Idaho, Oklahoma, and Texas in the USA. This paper aims to provide a commentary on insights into conducting future solutions-oriented research on water scarcity based on the understanding of the social-ecological dynamics of water scarce …

Winter Bat Activity In A Landscape Without Traditional Hibernacula, Amy M. Hammesfahr, Rene E. Ohms

United States National Park Service: Publications

Abstract

Prior to 2014, bat research at Devils Tower National Monument (DETO) focused on bats present during the summer months. Biologists at DETO assumed local bats were strictly summer residents due to the presumed lack of typical habitat features associated with bat hibernation, such as caves and mines. This lack of traditional hibernacula features at DETO discouraged staff and research cooperators from studying winter bat populations. Despite the earlier assumption that bats were unlikely to hibernate on the monument, DETO documented significant winter bat activity through passive winter acoustic monitoring. This study is the first study at DETO that documents …

Patient Perceptions Of Google Glass In The Outpatient Dermatology Setting, Sandra Odenheimer

Doctoral Projects

Background: The ubiquitous use of electronic health record (EHRs) during medical office visits using a computer monitor and keyboard can be distracting and disrupt patient-healthcare provider (HCP) non-verbal eye contact cues, which are integral to effective communication. Provider use of a remote medical scribe with face-mounted eyeglass technology, such as Google Glass (GG), may preserve patient-HCP communication in the healthcare setting by allowing providers to access other parts of the patient’s EHR (e.g. laboratory results, current medications, immunization records) all while maintaining direct eye contact with their patients. The medical scribe is able to chart patient encounters in real-time working …

Application Of Cloud-Based Geospatial Technologies To Flowering Phenology And Environmental Education, Michael Cope

All Dissertations

Cloud-based geospatial technologies are rapidly improving the flow of information from the environment to end-users. Cloud-based photo storage websites were used to create and manage species and spatial-temporal metadata in a digital photographic inventory of plant flowering observations collected at Lake Issaqueena, SC from January, 2012 to December, 2014. Statistical analysis of species and temporal metadata revealed significant (p < 0.05) inter-annual shifts in flowering time among several species during and after extreme high monthly temperature in March, 2012 and extreme high monthly total precipitation in July and August, 2013. An interactive ArcGIS Online map with sampling locations of flowering plants was developed and published. The interactive ArcGIS Online map enables web-based knowledge discovery of flowering phenology by allowing users to filter map contents, view plant pictures, navigate to additional plant information in the USDA PLANTS Database, and render spatial-temporal flowering patterns using the heat map view and time settings. The conceptual workflow for managing, integrating, and mapping plant flowering observations has numerous potential applications in species monitoring, allowing for higher volume and quality data to be collected and shared openly. A Cloud-based ESRI Story Map was developed for teaching Soil Forming Factors: Topography in undergraduate soil science education. Student evaluation of the ESRI Story Map was positive, and responses indicate students broadly preferred the ESRI Story Map as a stand-alone teaching module or as supplemental to PowerPoint slides. Teaching with ESRI Story Maps is very different than GIS education, and is well suited for fostering critical and spatial thinking because students do not need to possess prior skills in GIS software, allowing them to spend more time learning the topic at hand in interactive teaching modules. Teaching with ESRI Story Maps has enormous potential in soil science and other environmental disciplines, but more research is needed to develop specific teaching objectives and exercises using ESRI Story Maps.

Exploring Pre-Service Special And General Education Teachers’ Beliefs And Attitudes In Mathematics And Learning And Teaching Mathematics, Bedoor A H E Alazemi

Dissertations

The purpose of this quantitative study was to examine and compare the beliefs and attitudes of pre-service special and general education teacher candidates regarding mathematics and the learning and teaching of mathematics and explore factors including student learning, teaching math, math rated affect (math anxiety and confidence), effectance motivation, usefulness of math, and the effect of previous teachers’ perceptions. The interrelationship among these factors was explored and compared to participants’ academic level and majors (i.e., special education and general) to determine whether these factors influenced the approaches pre-service teachers thought they would use when teaching math. The participants were 362 …

Macra Legislation (Medicare Access And Chip Reauthorization Act) And The Quality Provider Payment Program: Policy Analysis And Educational Program Evaluation, Katie Joseph-Johnson

Capstone Experience: Master of Public Health

ABSTRACT

Goal: The goal of this Service Learning/Capstone Experience is to provide an in-depth policy analysis and interpretation of the 2018 proposed changes in the Quality Payment Plan (QPP) as part of the 2015 MACRA legislation for the purpose of developing organizational training material.

Objectives: The key objectives of this project are 1) to complete a policy review of the current and proposed Quality Payment Program legislation from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), including June 2017 proposed updates and the November 2017 final rule updates; 2) to gain physician and hospital administrator’s perspective on realized …

A Comparative Analysis Of Personal Financial Literacy, Connor Davey

Finance Undergraduate Honors Theses

The purpose of this thesis is to provide a comparative analysis of the financial state of modern American college graduates to similar groups of graduates. From this comparative analysis, we can see which aspects of Personal Financial Literacy need to be emphasized to achieve success as a new college graduate. First, a comparison was made between modern American graduates and American graduates from Generation X. It was found that modern graduates have just slightly more student loan debt than Gen X graduates, despite having significantly higher tuition rates. This debt amount, over time, would not be a huge concern for …

An Analysis Of Litter Management Strategies In Olmos Basin Park: Evaluating Problems And Solutions, Willa M. Rubin

Environmental Studies

Olmos Basin Park is historically significant, biologically diverse and centrally located, yet it is decimated by trash. The park is predisposed to trash accumulation because of its geography and municipal setting. There are currently a few different litter management strategies active in the park. They include a contracted clean-up, the potential installation of a Bandalong Litter Trap^TM Device, various Volunteer-Led clean-up projects, education focused strategies, and legal strategies. None of these strategies have been effective in significantly reducing the trash problem in Olmos Basin Park. A plastic bag ban, especially on that works within the frame work of existing …

Does Migration Cause Income Inequality?, Pia M. Orrenius, Madeline Zavodny

Mission Foods Texas-Mexico Center Research

Inequality has been rising across the world in recent decades. Latin America has been an exception to what otherwise seems to be the prevalent trend in the U.S., Europe and Asia. In the U.S. the rise in inequality since the 1970s has coincided with the rise in Mexican immigration. In Mexico, inequality has been declining since the mid-1990s, a period during which emigration to the U.S. first increased to historic highs and then declined steeply.

Our review of the literature suggests that low-skilled immigration to the U.S., much of it from Mexico, has only played a minor role in rising …