Digital Commons Network^™

Validation Of Virginia's Juvenile Risk Assessment Instrument, Jessica P. Schneider

Theses and Dissertations

Utilizing a validated risk assessment tool to predict future offending is recommended as best practices in corrections by a number of professional organizations (Latessa & Lovins, 2010). Guided by the risk-needs-responsivity model, risk assessment tools have evolved to help inform criminal justice practitioners by identifying offenders most in need of intervention or supervision, guiding the case plan to optimize outcomes (Bonta & Andrews, 2007). The Virginia Department of Juvenile Justice (DJJ) utilizes the Youth Assessment and Screening Instrument (YASI) at all stages of contact with youthful offenders, including intake, probation, commitment, and parole (DJJ, 2016). However, risk assessment instruments do …

A Comparison Of Quality Indicators Between Medicare Accountable Care Organizations And Health Maintenance Organizations Using Publicly Available Data, William W. Campbell Iii

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study is to explore differences in quality between Medicare Accountable Care Organizations (ACO) and Health Maintenance Organizations (HMO). Three outcomes measures reported by these plans use different methodologies but possess enough alignment to permit comparison: percent of diabetic patients with last HbA1c > 9.0%, colon cancer screening rate and ER visits per 1,000. These outcomes are the dependent variables (DV). A secondary purpose is to explore differences in quality based on the size of the beneficiary population served, using the same measures.

As the Medicare program faces threats to its solvency in coming decades, with 10,000 baby …

Will You Accept This Rose?, Sasha Baskin

Theses and Dissertations

Using figures from the popular culture program The Bachelor in a large-scale tapestry-style weaving, I address the drive to create idealized simulations in order to better understand one’s own reality and identity. Natural dye and traditional weaving processes in combination with digital weaving technology allow me to literally integrate the juxtaposition of analog and digital elements which defines a woven image.

Dye work and pattern allow for large gestural drawing marks while individual threads overlap to create literal pixelized imagery. I examine the act of weaving as the creation of screens through which one can see, hide, or obscure. I …

Natural And Anthropogenic Drivers Of Tree Evolutionary Dynamics, Brandon M. Lind

Theses and Dissertations

Species of trees inhabit diverse and heterogeneous environments, and often play important ecological roles in such communities. As a result of their vast ecological breadth, trees have become adapted to various environmental pressures. In this dissertation I examine various environmental factors that drive evolutionary dynamics in threePinusspecies in California and Nevada, USA. In chapter two, I assess the role of management influence of thinning, fire, and their interaction on fine-scale gene flow within fire-suppressed populations of Pinus lambertiana, a historically dominant and ecologically important member of mixed-conifer forests of the Sierra Nevada, California. Here, I find evidence …

On Being A Good Neighbor, Kathren M. Cutshall

Theses and Dissertations

This research supports the design of a museum dedicated to reconciliation on the issue of human slavery. Throughout the museum guests will be ushered through contemplation to prepare for the context of the museum, gallery exhibitions chronicling the slavery and corporate apologia. The aim of the museum is to aid guests toward taking ownership of the history of slavery while simultaneously offering up forgiveness for it. Platforms for spoken word art, lecture halls and spaces dedicated to dialogue will be included. The chronological progression through the museum will move guests from introspection to education, personal acceptance to forgiveness. Guests will …

"Let The Castillo Be His Monument!": Imperialism, Nationalism, And Indian Commemoration At The Castillo De San Marcos National Monument In St. Augustine, Florida, Claire M. Barnewolt

Theses and Dissertations

The Castillo de San Marcos is the oldest stone fortification on the North American mainland, a unique site that integrates Florida’s Spanish colonial past with American Indian narratives. A complete history of this fortification from its origins to its management under the National Park Service has not yet been written. During the Spanish colonial era, the Indian mission system complemented the defensive work of the fort until imperial skirmishes led to the demise of the Florida Indian. During the nineteenth century, Indian prisoners put a new American Empire on display while the fort transformed into a tourist destination. The Castillo …

Black Lives Examined: Black Nonfiction And The Praxis Of Survival In The Post-Civil Rights Era, Ariel D. Lawrence

Theses and Dissertations

The subject of my thesis project is black nonfiction, namely the essay, memoir, and autobiography, written by black authors about and during the Post-Civil Rights Era. The central goals of this work are to briefly investigate the role of genre analysis within the various subsets of nonfiction and also to exemplify the ways that black writers have taken key genre models and evolved them. Secondly, I aim to understand the historical, political, and cultural contributions of the Post-Civil Rights Era, which I mark as hitting its stride in 1968. It is not my desire to create a definitive historical framework …

[You Are With] Kin And [You Can Be At] Ease, Abdul Azim Al Ghussein

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis is an exploration of hospitality, sharing and acclimation within a studio art practice as a means of fostering consideration of others. I employ a practice whereby I disrupt the typical gallery context, and through the production and dissemination of consumable items from the Middle East, I examine how resources can be used, valued, and shared to accommodate various and unspecified others and provide opportunities for crossing thresholds of guest and host relationships.

Edgelands, Anne Bujold

Theses and Dissertations

Animal imagery has been part of the human effort to understand our place in the world since the beginning of recorded history. Through examining the role and use of animal imagery in the creation of cultural signals, I have developed a framework for my practice. Edgelands employs representations of feral animals as symbols for the “misfit” to emphasize the value of those who do not fit in. My experience as a woman in the field of metal work informs my material choice and process, subverting ironwork motifs and the purpose of gates and boundaries. Edgelands overlaps a series of material …

What Lies Beneath, Meg Wachs

Theses and Dissertations

What is the very first thing you notice about a person? Appearance? What if the first thing you saw was everything that they were trying to hide? We would see every flaw but we would also see every truth. What Lies Beneath is an exploration of interior and exterior and an exposure to the dark and abject inside all of us; the parts we keep hidden and the things that build up until they have no place else to go. Rooted in an examination of the human psyche, my thesis explores the difference between the facade we project to the …

Skin-Tone And Academic Achievement Among 5-Year-Old Mexican Children, Selamawit Hailu

Theses and Dissertations

Skin-tone based social stratification has been characterized as an enduring part of the U.S. racial landscape (Hunter, 2002). Despite the plethora of research that examines the racial disparities in education (e.g., Reardon & Portilla, 2015), and an emerging literature finding that lighter skin-tones are associated with higher educational attainment among adults (Hunter, 2002) few studies have examined whether similar processes emerge during early childhood. Thus, grounded in Garcia Coll and colleagues’ (1996) integrative model, we tested whether skin-tone predicted children’s academic achievement, and whether these relations were modified by children’s ethnic-racial identification (i.e., positive ethnic-racial attitudes and centrality). Consistent with …

Creating Space For Belonging Within The West Virginia Progressive Movement, Roger A. Jennette

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

With the 2016 Presidential election come and gone, political activism within the United States has garnered more attention as political actors on the Progressive Left oppose the actions of the new administration. The West Virginia progressive movement is used as a case study of the national push towards progressive politics. Using participant diaries and a series of longitudinal interviews, this thesis explores the creation of spaces belonging within an activist organization to foster sustained involvement. The analysis points to the importance of creating a sense of belonging and the desire to ‘strive for better’ in a state that is often …

Spatial And Temporal Analysis Of Surface Water Quality In Relation To Marcellus Shale Gas Development In The Northern Panhandle Of West Virginia, Rachel Yesenchak

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Pre-existing water chemistry data available from the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection were used to examine temporal changes in surface water quality related to the onset of Marcellus Shale gas drilling activity in the state of West Virginia. Drilling is concentrated in the northwestern portion of the state. Watersheds were delineated for twelve discrete stream sampling locations in the Upper Ohio-Wheeling HUC-8 sub-basin, where shale gas drilling is prevalent. Kruskal-Wallis tests were deployed to compare pre- and post-drilling concentrations of conductivity, chloride, and total suspended solids for each location. Increased concentrations of these parameters are associated with surface water …

Qualitative And Quantitative Analysis Of Carbonate Waters In The Peters Mountain Region Of Monroe County, Wv, Emily A. Bausher

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Water in Monroe County, WV is used extensively for public and private supply and requires quantification, chemical analysis, and assessment for contamination susceptibility. Over 250 springs were previously identified in the eastern side of Monroe County on or near Peters Mountain; 14 were continuously monitored in this study. Springs were grouped based on geologic and spatial distribution: interbedded clastic-rock springs on the mountain flanks, carbonate springs in the valley, and a thermal spring associated with the St. Clair thrust fault. Clastic and carbonate springs have calcium-magnesium-bicarbonate chemistries, neutral pHs and high alkalinities; the thermal spring has calcium-magnesium-sulfate-carbonate chemistry, low pH, …

Climate Science Literacy: A Study Of Climate Programs' Usability, Amber Rochelle Williams

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Literacy is an important facet of understanding how undergraduate college students comprehend climate science. This research, conducted at West Virginia University, examines the usability of climate data in three commonly used climate programs to reduce the prominent knowledge gap in climate science literacy about college students.

The objective of this research is to investigate the knowledge gap in climate science literacy by conducting focus group surveys to examine the usability of programs that use climate datasets. The three programs used in this research were the NOAA online tool, NASA’s Panoply data viewer, and GrADS programmable tool. The NOAA tool is …

Words To Cook By: Changing Meanings Of Eating Local In Humboldt County, Nora E. Mounce

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

Humboldt County has an active food system of small, sustainable farms and a vibrant cottage food industry. Yet, this system fails to address the needs of a diverse population that struggles with a disproportionate degree of poor health outcomes. In order to understand the unique challenges facing the region’s food system – and how local government and advocacy groups should begin to address healthy food policy - this research thesis analyzes key texts about food, which illustrate the language and ideologies of eating local in Humboldt County. This research thesis found that the concept of eating local – consuming foodstuffs …

Community-Based Initiatives For Neighborhood And Community Rehabilitation: A Case Study Of The Mission District, San Francisco, California, Francesca Monique Gallardo

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

Through the case study of San Francisco, CA’s Mission District, this research project addresses how community-based affordable housing development is operationalized to rehabilitate communities and neighborhoods experiencing effects of gentrification, mass displacement, and cultural dilution. My goals were to identify how the processes of building a sense of community, trust, and cohesion- rehabilitating and critical to affordable housing development efforts in the Mission District? And, how are nonprofit community development organizations engaging with these processes in collaboration with citizen and community partners? The final objective is to provide evidence-based strategies to assist other at-risk minority communities and neighborhoods in the …

Café Para Todos: A Critical Narrative Of Bilingual Education Policy And Practice In Monolingual Spain, Grant A. Skoglund

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

This research presents an ethnographic account of English bilingual programs in public Spanish high schools, exploring not only how such programs currently function in the eyes of stakeholders, but also the significance of bilingualism in the context of an English Imperative perspective. This perspective, shown to be widely adopted by research participants, sees English as a practical necessity in contemporary Spanish society for future success in a globalized world. The objective of this research is to situate bilingual policy and programing within a larger socio-economic and political context and elucidate the attitudes and opinions of key policy actors – students …

The Performance Of 2d And 3d Tsunami Evacuation Maps: A Case Study For Seaside, Oregon, Aaron M. Taveras

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

Tsunami evacuation maps are intended to inform the public about the geographic extent of the hazard and where to evacuate, but these maps can be difficult to interpret for people unfamiliar with cartographic semiology. This study focuses on the performance of tsunami evacuation maps and how the tsunami hazard is represented cartographically, as at-risk communities must be able to act quickly, and effectively understand tsunami maps to remain aware of the hazard and adequately evacuate. This study investigated the use of static three-dimensional (3D) perspective maps and travel time to safety representation (shown using point markers and choropleth symbology), as …

Ip Preparedness For Outbreak Diseases, Ana Santos Rutschman

All Faculty Scholarship

Outbreaks of infectious diseases will worsen, as illustrated by the recent back-to-back Ebola and Zika epidemics. The development of innovative drugs, especially in the form of vaccines, is key to minimizing future outbreaks, yet current intellectual property (IP) regimes are ineffective in supporting this goal.

IP scholarship has not adequately addressed the role of IP in the development of vaccines for outbreak diseases. This Article fills that void. Through case studies on the recent Ebola and Zika outbreaks, it provides the first descriptive analysis of the role of IP from the pre- to the post-outbreak stages, specifically identifying IP inefficiencies. …

Population Dynamics And Water Resource Consumption In Spokane, Wa, Daniel Jesus Castillo

EWU Masters Thesis Collection

No abstract provided.

Pederasty In Ancient Greece: A View Of A Now Forbidden Institution, Catherine S. Donnay

EWU Masters Thesis Collection

No abstract provided.

Targeting Collection Assessment Data To The Intended Audience, Kimberly S. Westbrooks, Paula Barnett-Ellis

Research, Publications & Creative Work

At Jacksonville State University, additions of new degree programs have added greater importance to collection assessments as a guide for future budget planning and the accreditation process. Collection assessments give librarians and administrators an overview of the library’s collections, justification for expenditures, and disclosure of areas in need of strengthening. Assessments highlight resources and their access points, while justifying the resources’ presence to faculty stakeholders. An approachable assessment can be a valuable tool to introduce or reacquaint faculty with the collection development process and with classroom and research resources.

First Comprehensive Research On Pseudoscorpions (Arachnida: Pseudoscorpiones) Collected From Bird Nests In Russia, Katarina Krajcovicova, Aleksandr Vladimirovich Matyukhin, Jana Christophoryova

Turkish Journal of Zoology

The first comprehensive research on pseudoscorpion fauna in bird nests in Russia was carried out. A total of 131 pseudoscorpion specimens belonging to nine species and three families were collected. Eight of them were present in bird nests. One species was found in the plumage of dead Larus ridibundus (Linnaeus, 1766). Four species, Diplotemnus balcanicus (Redikorzev, 1928), Chernes vicinus (Beier, 1932), Dinocheirus panzeri (C.L. Koch, 1837), and Dinocheirus transcaspius (Redikorzev, 1922), are presented as new to the fauna of Russia. Simultaneously genera Dinocheirus and Diplotemnus and family Atemnidae are new for the pseudoscorpion fauna of Russia.

How Will Anthropogenic Valley Fills In Appalachian Headwaters Erode?, Miles Reed

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Mountaintop removal/valley fill (MTR/VF) coal mining in the Central Appalachian region has created the most extreme anthropogenic landscape on Earth by lowering ridges and infilling headwater stream valleys. No studies have attempted to detail erosional processes active on MTR/VR landforms. A combination of field work and LiDAR data observations documents erosional features on MTR/VF landscapes. Landscape evolution modeling explores future possibilities in valley-filled catchments. LiDAR data also allows for the quantification of valley-filled catchment alteration with statistically significant differences in both drainage density and depression storage capacity between "less disturbed" and valley-filled catchments. Field and LiDAR data observations show that …

Connecting Continents: Archaeology And History In The Indian Ocean World, Krish Seetah

Ohio University Press Open Access Books

In recent decades, the vast and culturally diverse Indian Ocean region has increasingly attracted the attention of anthropologists, historians, political scientists, sociologists, and other researchers. Largely missing from this growing body of scholarship, however, are significant contributions by archaeologists and consciously interdisciplinary approaches to studying the region’s past and present.

Connecting Continents addresses two important issues: how best to promote collaborative research on the Indian Ocean world, and how to shape the research agenda for a region that has only recently begun to attract serious interest from historical archaeologists. The archaeologists, historians, and other scholars who have contributed to this …

Routes, Locations, And Social Imaginary: A Comparative Study Of The On-Going Production Of Geographies In Somali Forced Migration, Marnie Shaffer, Giulia Ferrato, Zaheera Jinnah

All Faculty and Staff Scholarship

Drawing on the thresholds approach, a model that incorporates geography and mobility studies to understand migration from the perspective of migrants, this article examines the importance of location and route(s) in determining the journeys of Somali migrants. We use the protracted displacement of Somalis to address the process through which actual and perceived geographies are produced and reconfigured by Somali migrants on the move. In doing so, we look at how different migration paths, connected through transnational networks, influence the geographical perception of migrants at the core of any cross-border experience. Employing ethnographic fieldwork with Somalis in South Africa and …

Social Control In Transnational Families: Somali Women And Dignity In Johannesburg, Marnie Shaffer

All Faculty and Staff Scholarship

Transnational mobility often separates families and distances individuals from the kinship and social structures by which they organized their lives prior to migration. Myriad forms of insecurity have been the impetus for Somali movement into the diaspora, with people fleeing the realities of conflict that have marked Somalia for decades while physically dividing families as individuals settle in different countries around the world. Mobility has altered the dynamics of households, families, and communities post-migration, reshaping social constructions as individuals move on without the familial support that sustained them in Somalia. While outcomes of these hardships are variable and often uneven …

Natural Resource Access Rights And Wrongs: Nontimber Forest Products Gathering In Urban Environments, Susan Charnley, Rebecca J. Mclain, Melissa R. Poe

Institute for Sustainable Solutions Publications and Presentations

This article uses research about non-timber forest products (NTFP) gathering in Seattle, Washington, USA to examine how people gain access to natural resources in urban environments. Our analysis focuses on gathering in three spaces: parks, yards, and public rights of way. We present a framework for conceptualizing access, and highlight cognitive mechanisms of access associated with foragers’ internal moral judgments about harvesting. Key findings are: (1) internal moral calculations about whether it is right or wrong to harvest a particular NTFP in a particular place are an important but previously unacknowledged mechanism governing resource access; and (2) these calculations may …

Gvsu Undergraduate And Graduate Catalog, 2018-2019, Grand Valley State University

Course Catalogs, 1963 - Current

Grand Valley State University 2018-2019 undergraduate and/or graduate course catalog published annually to provide students with information and guidance for enrollment.