Digital Commons Network^™

An Evaluation Of School Culture And Its Impact On Student Achievement, Jeremy Johns-Klein

Dissertations

The purpose of this evaluation was to examine if a school’s culture impacts student academic achievement due to initial low attainment on state assessments and low graduation rates. The data collected provides both quantitative and qualitative information using a teacher survey, a teacher focus group, administrator interviews, and school achievement data. The results of the study indicate a need for stronger trust between teachers and administrators, increased professional development to support teaching and learning, and improved partnerships with the parents/guardians of the students. An additional result is that the school’s culture for learning can impact the achievement levels of the …

Structured Sensemaking Of Videographic Information Within Dataphoric Space, Michael J. Pritchard

Masters Theses & Doctoral Dissertations

Attempts to create a structured sensemaking model have proven difficult. Much of the research today has evolved into a cacophony of conceptual models. Many of these sensemaking models have been proposed but not tested. Using structural equations, a unified model of sensemaking was developed and tested. This structured sensemaking model contains five sensemaking constructs: chaos, anchoring, articulation, retrospection, and identity. This model was tested using data collected from 224 educationally focused YouTube videos. The confirmatory factor model developed for this research has a measured Comparative Fit Index of 0.979, a measured Standardized Root Mean Square Residual of 0.078, and a …

Human-Robot Plan Communication, Rajaa A. Rahil

Theses and Dissertations

Although the technical development of robots has made them more autonomous, they still benefit from some human skills and advice. Therefore, the robot needs to interact with a human and ask him for help to get out of difficulties in the best way. This dissertation addresses the problem of finding better mechanisms to communicate to a robot the directions for navigation in indoor environments. We identify which out of a set of combinations of speech, gestures, and drawing mechanisms are the most comfortable, easier to learn, and least error-prone for human users. Three different methods: a Speaking method, a Gesturing …

International Arbitration And Attorney-Client Privilege — A Conflict Of Laws Approach, Susan Franck

Scholarly Articles in Law Reviews & Journals

Privilege determinations in international arbitration are currently the equivalent of the “wild west,” with minimal predictability and massive pockets of tribunal discretion. Yet protecting privilege in international arbitration — when the same document or communications with lawyers that is protected by United States law may receive no protection under another law — is fundamental to safeguarding attorney-client relationships within a global environment, incentivizing procedural integrity of dispute resolution, and ensuring that justice is done. As it is not clear what law applies to privilege and client confidentiality (let alone how the law is determine), this Essay begins to bridge the …

Building An Effective Learning Environment For Chinese Language Learners, Wen-Yu Chang

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

This portfolio is a compilation of papers that the author originally wrote during her study in the program of Master of Second Language Teaching at Utah State University. While pursuing the Master’s degree, the author also served as an instructor, teaching assistant, and research assistant in the Chinese program. Thus, this work is framed by the author's personal reflection accumulated from her day-to-day teaching experiences and class observations.

The portfolio consists of three major sections: (1) teaching perspectives, (2) research perspectives, and (3) an annotated bibliography. With the aim to identify the elements of an effective and communicative learning environment …

Transition Portfolio, Sarah Atkinson

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

Teaching self-determination skills has been shown to be successful among those who are from Anglo-Saxon decent. However, not much has been done to study the effects of teaching culturally responsive self-determination skills to those who are from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds. The literature review in this transition portfolio addresses how teaching culturally and linguistically responsive self-determination skills can be useful to help individuals who receive special education services to more fully succeed in a post-high school setting.

Secondson, Jonathan Blake Heaton

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

This author’s introduction is an analysis of graphic literature and poetry, and the combining of the two to create graphic poetry. Themes are explored of what it means to be a second son in a world permeated by traditional values, regarding the prominence of the first son.

This thesis was split into five sections: Finding My Story—in which the author explains how he came to the main narrative content behind Secondson; Finding My Themes—in which the author discusses the four themes that are included in Secondson and the inspiration received from outside works of poetry; Finding My Genre—in which the …

Called To Serve: Understanding The Role Of The Woman’S Mission Decision Narrative In Latter-Day Saint Culture And Belief, Rachel Ross

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

In my thesis I explore the role of mission decision narratives of women in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Before 2012, women could not serve missions until age 21. Once the minimum age was changed to 19 in October of 2012, many more women were able to serve on mission as the opportunity was less likely to disrupt their education or romantic relationships. In The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, missions are seen as a priesthood duty for men but a matter of choice for women. This ability to choose and the narrative that follows …

The Bridge Newsletter Winter 2019, Missouri University Of Science And Technology

The Bridge Newsletter

-Dehghani joins S&T
-Life after death of solar panels
-Civil engineering senior studies in Hong Kong
-Planning for future climate changes in the Artic

Motivated Interpersonal Emotion Regulation In Leadership, Julianna Jasmin Walsh

Theses and Dissertations

Emotions are important and prevalent workplace phenomena. Previous research has found that emotions can impact different workplace-related outcomes, from increasing employee performance to increasing employee well-being (Barsade & Gibson, 2007). Leaders are expected to engage in interpersonal emotion regulation (IER) strategies that influence their followers’ emotions to facilitate these outcomes. However, little is known about this process. Leaders might have different motives for regulating followers’ emotions, such as to help them learn a skill, to be compassionate with them, or to push them to get work done. Additionally, they might target specific emotions depending on that intention and, in turn, …

Improving Grapheme-To-Phoneme Translation With The Use Of Nalu Attention Mechanisms, Brian Sheldon Smith

Theses and Dissertations

In recent years, Natural Language Processing in the field of machine learning has seen some major improvements. Data scientists have shown that neural networks are capable of breaking down semantics of sentences, translating languages, and answering complex questions with fast recall. While impressive, these feats all hinge on having access to a massive amount of clean text, or data sets with almost perfect grammar and spelling. Without this, neural networks will usually fail to converge on a meaningful result. To partially this dependency, Grapheme-to-Phoneme conversion can be employed. This is the conversion of words from their spellings to a form …

Performance Evaluation Of Speech Recognition System Using Conventional And Hybrid Features And Hidden Markov Model Classifier, Hussien Elharati

Theses and Dissertations

Extracting the auditory information from speech signal is considered a computationally demanding task. However, past researches in mathematics, acoustics, and speech technology have provided many methods for signal processing and modeling. Although, all methods have their strengths and weaknesses, but they remain a serious attempt towards speech recognition system. Using multivariate statistical machine learning (Hidden Markov Model), this work investigates the performance of selected conventional and new hybrid feature extraction algorithms in both clean and noisy environments. The resultant conventional features include MFCC, LPCC, PLP, and RASTA-PLP, while the new hybrid features include LPR, MLP, MLR, and MPR. The whole …

Phase Iii Randomized Trial Of Chemotherapy With Or Without Bevacizumab In Patients With Recurrent Or Metastatic Head And Neck Cancer., Athanassios Argiris, Shuli Li, Panayiotis Savvides, James P. Ohr, Jill Gilbert, Marshall A. Levine, Arnab Chakravarti, Missak Haigentz, Nabil F. Saba, Chukwuemeka V. Ikpeazu, Charles J. Schneider, Harlan A. Pinto, Arlene A. Forastiere, Barbara Burtness

Department of Medical Oncology Faculty Papers

PURPOSE: We evaluated the addition of bevacizumab, a humanized monoclonal antibody that targets vascular endothelial growth factor, to platinum-based chemotherapy in recurrent or metastatic squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck (SCCHN).

PATIENTS AND METHODS: Patients with chemotherapy-naïve (or with prior platinum as part of multimodal therapy completed ≥ 4 months earlier) recurrent or metastatic SCCHN were randomly assigned to receive a platinum-based chemotherapy doublet with or without bevacizumab 15 mg/kg given intravenously every 3 weeks until disease progression. Chemotherapy could be discontinued after six cycles if a maximum response was achieved.

RESULTS: The study randomly assigned 403 patients. …

Efficient And Robust Nk-Cell Transduction With Baboon Envelope Pseudotyped Lentivector., Aurelien B L Colamartino, William Lemieux, Panojot Bifsha, Simon Nicoletti, Nitin Chakravarti, Joaquín Sanz, Hugo Roméro, Silvia Selleri, Kathie Béland, Mélanie Guiot, Camille Tremblay-Laganière, Renée Dicaire, Luis Barreiro, Dean A Lee, Els Verhoeyen, Elie Haddad

Department of Medical Oncology Faculty Papers

NK-cell resistance to transduction is a major technical hurdle for developing NK-cell immunotherapy. By using Baboon envelope pseudotyped lentiviral vectors (BaEV-LVs) encoding eGFP, we obtained a transduction rate of 23.0 ± 6.6% (mean ± SD) in freshly-isolated human NK-cells (FI-NK) and 83.4 ± 10.1% (mean ± SD) in NK-cells obtained from the NK-cell Activation and Expansion System (NKAES), with a sustained transgene expression for at least 21 days. BaEV-LVs outperformed Vesicular Stomatitis Virus type-G (VSV-G)-, RD114- and Measles Virus (MV)- pseudotyped LVs (p < 0.0001). mRNA expression of both BaEV receptors, ASCT1 and ASCT2, was detected in FI-NK and NKAES, with higher expression in NKAES. Transduction with BaEV-LVs encoding for CAR-CD22 resulted in robust CAR-expression on 38.3 ± 23.8% (mean ± SD) of NKAES cells, leading to specific killing of NK-resistant pre-B-ALL-RS4;11 cell line. Using a larger vector encoding a dual CD19/CD22-CAR, we were able to transduce and re-expand dual-CAR-expressing NKAES, even with lower viral titer. These dual-CAR-NK efficiently killed both CD19KO- and CD22KO-RS4;11 cells. Our results suggest that BaEV-LVs may efficiently enable NK-cell biological studies and translation of NK-cell-based immunotherapy to the clinic.

Demographic Factors Affecting Freshman Engineering Students’ Attitudes Toward Mathematics At A University In Saudi Arabia, Essa Abdullah Alibraheim

Theses and Dissertations

This study of freshman engineering students enrolled at Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University (IAU) in Saudi Arabia investigated the relationship between the students’ attitudes and their demographic characteristics. Specifically, the study assessed the relationship between students’ demographic characteristics and how the characteristics related to five variables associated with attitudes toward mathematics: attitude toward success in mathematics, confidence in learning mathematics, mathematics anxiety, awareness of the usefulness of mathematics, and effectance motivation in mathematics. A total number of 157 male students enrolled in Calculus 1 participated in the survey. Findings revealed that the freshman engineering students had positive attitudes toward mathematics; …

Jomo: A Flexible Package For Two-Level Joint Modelling Multiple Imputation, Matteo Quartagno, Simon Grund, James Carpenter

The R Journal

Multiple imputation is a tool for parameter estimation and inference with partially observed data, which is used increasingly widely in medical and social research. When the data to be imputed are correlated or have a multilevel structure — repeated observations on patients, school children nested in classes within schools within educational districts — the imputation model needs to include this structure. Here we introduce our joint modelling package for multiple imputation of multilevel data, jomo, which uses a multivariate normal model fitted by Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC). Compared to previous packages for multilevel imputation, e.g. pan, jomo adds the …

The Impact Of Student Perception Data On Teachers: A Multisite Case Study At Midwestern K–12 Catholic Schools, Brandi Y. Bibins-Redburn

Department of Educational Administration: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

For as long as there have been teachers, there have been efforts to determine the most constructive way to evaluate teacher effectiveness. Research has shown that traditional administrator evaluations do little to improve struggling teachers and that most teachers nationwide are able to earn satisfactory ratings even when they are not performing in a satisfactory manner. This study aims to determine whether using student perception feedback as part of a comprehensive teacher evaluation process would lead to improved practice and targeted professional development. The following questions were investigated in this research: 1. Does student perception feedback drive teachers to reflect …

The Nebraska Bird Review, Volume 87 December 2019 Number 4

Nebraska Bird Review

Fall Field Report, August - November 2019, by W. Ross Silcock …118-138

2019 Hitchcock Raptor Banding Project in Perspective, by Jerry Toll …138-147

Imperial Fall Field Days, Sept 13-15, 2019 …148-152

Index to Volume 87 …153-166

Subscription and Organization Information …167

Motherhood And The Periodical Press: The Myth And The Medium, Susan A. Malcom

Department of English: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

In this study, I utilize close readings of the periodically published works of three women writers – Kate Chopin, Frances Ellen Watkins Harper, and Elia Peattie –through the lenses of historical/biographical, affective, and biosocial theories. Examining these works against the backdrop of America’s mythologized mother exposes the social ubiquity of the myth and the realities of motherhood nineteenth-century women experienced.

Chapter one examines the mythological nature of American motherhood as it evolved from a politically and socially nuanced Republican Mother and the role of American periodicals as a medium of perpetuating that myth. Historically, American motherhood was an extended function …

Degree Of Bilingualism, Age, Income And Teacher Ratings Of Giftedness As Potential Predictors Of Dichotic Listening Performance, Francisco J. Sierra

Theses and Dissertations

Bilinguals and gifted individuals have consistently shown distinctive patterns of performance on measures of brain laterality and auditory processing. The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between bilingualism, teacher ratings of giftedness, and auditory divided attention by comparing children and adults with income partialed out. Child participants from first to fifth grade were included in addition to an adult comparison group. Assessment of bilingualism, auditory divided attention, and giftedness occurred via the Woodcock-Munoz Language Survey-III (WMLS-III), the Dichotic Test of Attention (DITA), and the Hispanic Bilingual Gifted Screening Instrument (HBGSI). The main hypothesis of this study is …

Implementing An Abbreviated Assessment To Compare Error-Correction Procedures For Teaching Intraverbal Behavior To Children, Victoria Ryan

Theses and Dissertations

Young children with Autism (ASD) often have difficulty responding appropriately to questions asked by their peers, parents, or teachers. Teaching intraverbal behavior using Discrete Trial Instruction (DTI) has shown effective results with the use of specific stimulus-transfer procedures (e.g., vocal, textual, or pictures). Previous research has suggested using an abbreviated assessment for error correction procedures as a tool to determine the most effective and efficient procedures when teaching children. In addition, such tools have been shown to not only be effective at predicting a child’s most effective error-correction, but also in less time, allowing practitioners to make data-based decisions and …

Dirty Spoons, Renee Grasso

Gandy Dancer Archives

No abstract provided.

Middle School Teachers' Judgment Of Attributes And Processes Used In Professional Development, Harry R. Walter Iii

Masters Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

Most people would agree that education is imperative to the development of young people. However, the education that students need, and are receiving, is in a constant state of shift due to an ever-changing society. Some of the developmental needs of today’s students are not the same as those in the past. As a result of these changes, as well as concerns regarding the education some students are receiving, the requirements and expectations for the education students receive are changing. Research has indicated that the role the teacher plays in the development of young is important. Teachers need to stay …

Does The Sum Of The Parts Equal The Whole: Relationships Between Executive Function, Visual Attention And Heart Rate Variability In Rotc Cadets, Kaila Rogers

Masters Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

The prefrontal cortex of the brain filters a variety of competing demands in order to appropriately execute goals and intentions (Cooper & Shallice, 2000). This region is also critical for controlling visual attention (Stuss, Shallice, Alexander, & Picton, 1995) and regulating the autonomic nervous system and heart rate variability (HRV) (Thayer & Lane, 2000). Each of these processes has been examined separately, but none have explored the relationships among them. The current study examined visual attention, executive functioning, and HRV in undergraduate ROTC cadets. Forty-one cadets participated in this study wherein executive function was measured via self-report questionnaires, visual attention …

Design And Sensitivity Analysis Of Ebg Stripline Common-Mode Filters, Marina Y. Koledintseva, Sergiu Radu, Joseph Nuebel

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Workflow of electromagnetic bandgap (EBG) common-mode (CM) filter design of edge-coupled differential pairs on a printed circuit board (PCB) and sensitivity of its characteristics to variations of geometrical and material parameters are discussed. A number of simple 20-GHz EBG CM notch filters for differential strip line pairs are designed using full-wave numerical electromagnetic modeling, fabricating, and testing. The cases of one and two strip line differential pairs crossing the EBG patches are considered. The modeled and measured mixed-mode S-parameters are analyzed as functions of geometrical parameters, including size and number of EBG patches, gaps between them, geometry and position of …

Detection And Mitigation Of Attacks In Nonlinear Stochastic System Using Modified Detector, Chandreyee Bhowmick, S. Jagannathan

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

A novel attack detection method is presented for a nonlinear system with known dynamics using the measured output in the presence of additive process and measurement noise. False data injection (FDI) and replay attacks are considered using a modified fault detector. The difference between the measured and the estimated output from an adaptive observer, often known as the innovation signal, is generated and shown to have a Gaussian distribution with non-zero mean. This innovation signal in conjunction with the modified detector is utilized to detect attacks under a stable controller using the estimated state vector. Unlike FDI attack, where the …

Middle School Outreach Efforts To Involve Immigrant Parents: What Are The Perceptions Of School Personnel And Immigrant Parents?, Marcella Denise Franklin-Williams

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Throughout the years, a concern plaguing the education world is parent involvement. Ongoing research indicates students whose parents and family members are involved tend to experience greater academic achievement and decreased behavior issues (McNeal, 2015). With regard to parent involvement, immigrant parent involvement takes this concern to a new level with regard to the growing racial and ethnic diversity in education (Outley & Skuza, 2019). Guided by Epstein’s six types of involvement and Yosso’s community cultural wealth, this study explores one urban middle school’s outreach efforts to involve immigrant parents. In this qualitative case study, one middle schools’ stakeholders-the principal, …

Brokering Words And Work: Complexities Of Literacy Sponsorship In The Oilfields Of South Texas., Jennifer L. Marciniak

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This research is an investigation of workforce recruitment language as the “leading edge” of literacy sponsorship as it pertains to blue-collar rig and service workers in the South Texas oilfields. Using Deborah Brandt’s Literacy in American Lives as a framework for this study, I conducted interviews with 10 rig and service workers and labor market intermediary administrators about the perceptions and expectations of literacy use in oilfield work. My inquiry begins by first learning about workers’ experiences with recruitment into the industry. Then, to understand more about how the industry communicates literacy expectations to these workers, I look at recruitment …

Perceptions Of Restorative Practices Among Black Girls: Talking Circles In An Urban Alternative Middle School., Vanessa Marie Mcphail

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Research suggests that Restorative Justice approaches have shown promise in terms of their impact on school climate, student behavior, and relationships. The purpose of this study is to explore Black female students’ perceptions of Restorative Practice (RP) talking circles at an alternative school. The study examined literature on Zero Tolerance, School Discipline Disparities, African American Female students, Intersectionality, Restorative Justice, and Alternative Schools. A qualitative case study method was used for this study, drawing from two sources: (a) face-to-face interviews and (b) observations of the Black female students who attend the alternative school and participate in the talking circles. Analyses …

Teacher Perception Of Administrative Support For The Implementation Of A Teacher Evaluation System., Natalie Redman Brown

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study seeks to examine how new and experienced teachers in one urban public school district in Kentucky perceive support from their school administrators under the Professional Growth and Effectiveness System (PGES). A factorial analysis of variance (ANOVA) was conducted to examine potential interaction between more than one variable (i.e., difference in teachers who have a favorable, unfavorable, or neutral perception of administrative support of PGES, as well as years of teacher experience). Teachers who had a more positive view of administrative support had a higher perception of PGES. Teachers who have a favorable perception of administrative support are likely …