Digital Commons Network^™

Chemostratigraphic Correlations Across The First Major Trilobite Extinction And Faunal Turnovers Between Laurentia And South China, Jih-Pai Lin, Frederick A. Sunberg, Ganqing Jiang, Isabel P. Montanez, Thomas Wotte

Geoscience Faculty Research

During Cambrian Stage 4 (~514 Ma) the oceans were widely populated with endemic trilobites and three major faunas can be distinguished: olenellids, redlichiids, and paradoxidids. The lower–middle Cambrian boundary in Laurentia was based on the first major trilobite extinction event that is known as the Olenellid Biomere boundary. However, international correlation across this boundary (the Cambrian Series 2–Series 3 boundary) has been a challenge since the formal proposal of a four-series subdivision of the Cambrian System in 2005. Recently, the base of the international Cambrian Series 3 and of Stage 5 has been named as the base of the Miaolingian …

Calcium Pyrophosphate Deposition Disease In The Achilles Tendon, Kai-Yu Ho, Jing Nong Liang

Physical Therapy Faculty Research

The classic sonographic presentation of calcium pyrophosphate dihydrate crystal deposits in the Achilles tendon is reported.

@Houstonpolice: An Exploratory Case Of Twitter During Hurricane Harvey, Seungwon Yang, Brenton Stewart

Faculty Publications

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine the Houston Police Department (HPD)’s public engagement efforts using Twitter during Hurricane Harvey, which was a large-scale urban crisis event.

Design/methodology/approach

This study harvested a corpus of over 13,000 tweets using Twitter’s streaming API, across three phases of the Hurricane Harvey event: preparedness, response and recovery. Both text and social network analysis (SNA) techniques were employed including word clouds, n-gram analysis and eigenvector centrality to analyze data.

Findings

Findings indicate that departmental tweets coalesced around topics of protocol, reassurance and community resilience. Twitter accounts of governmental agencies, such as …

Propaganda, Patriotism, And News: Printing Discovered And Intercepted Letters In England, 1571–1600, Gary Schneider

Literatures and Cultural Studies Faculty Publications

In this article I propose that the relatively few intercepted and discovered letters printed during the reign of Elizabeth I fall chiefly into three categories: they were published as propaganda, as patriotic statement, and as news reportage. Although Elizabeth and her ministers published intercepted and discovered letters on a strictly ad hoc and contingent basis, the pamphlets and books in which these letters appear, along with associated ideo-logical and polemical material, reveals determined uses of intercepted and discovered letters in print. Catholics likewise printed intercepted letters as propaganda to confront Elizabeth’s anti-Catholic policies through their own propaganda apparatus on the …

I Like You, Do You Like Me? How Gender, Context, And Aggression Predict Liking., Michaela Marian, Josafa M. Da Cunha, Jonathan Santo

Psychology Faculty Publications

Prosocial behaviors are correlated with positive relationships and acceptance by peers while aggression is correlated with negative relationships and rejection by peers. Peer aggression is also negatively correlated with peer liking, though the relationship may differ based on gender and norms. The current study examines the relationship between the different forms of aggression (physical, verbal, relational) and peer liking. The study asked 148 students from five classrooms in Curitiba, Brazil to complete peer nominations of their classmates and nominate students who were aggressive as well as rate how much they liked each peer. Multilevel modeling was used to analyze the …

Collaborative Features Of Graphic Narratives: Research For "Lovely, Satisfied, Indifferent Eyes", Brigid K. Fitzpatrick

University Honors Theses

Graphic narratives, such as comics and graphic novels, innately include formal features that invite reader participation. Reading a graphic narrative means contributing to the work. I created a graphic novelette, Lovely, Satisfied, Indifferent Eyes, that prioritizes the conceptual collaboration between author and reader. I did this by enhancing the formal features of the gutter, visual voice, braiding, and temporal representation (time). Creating a graphic narrative that relies on reader participation allows the author and the work to benefit from the vast networks of diverse readers, made possible by the internet and the increased communication in our world as a …

Attachment In Higher Education And The Workplace: A Literature Review, Emily A. Robey

University Honors Theses

This literature review explores attachment theory in the context of the workplace and higher education. The attachment research in these contexts is lacking, especially for higher education, but the data that does exist shows an important influence of attachment orientation and attachment related behaviors on the success of and interaction between individuals in these environments. Additionally, the influence of context on attachment related behaviors is explored. These discussions culminate in suggestions as to how attachment research can be further expanded upon and limitations in both the current research and this literature review.

Attracting Foreign Investments For Green Energy Projects In Sub-Saharan Africa: Climate Change Policy & Innovation In International Legal Compliance, Leslyn Ann Lewis

PhD Dissertations

Sub-Saharan Africa must confront the dual problem of development coupled with the complexities surrounding climate change. The regions stagnated growth has been historically attributed to many factors, but the predominant thought from an international law perspective is that if the region modernizes its legal and regulatory structures this will engender the confidence of foreign investors. With this acknowledgement came the demand on developing nations to modernize local legal and regulatory systems initially focusing on globally harmonized intellectual property rights and then more recently their energy regulatory infrastructures and processes to attract foreign investments. Several international organizations and institutions including the …

Illustrative Indicators For Community Health Worker Performance Measurement, Frontline Health Project

Reproductive Health

No abstract provided.

Trends And Associated Factors Of Use Of Opioid, Heroin, And Cannabis Among Patients For Emergency Department Visits In Nevada: 2009-2017, Pearl C. Kim, Ji Won Yoo, Chris R. Cochran, Seong-Min Park, Sungyoun Chun, Yong-Jae Lee, Jay J. Shen

School of Medicine Faculty Research

To examine trends and contributing factors of opioid, heroin, and cannabis-associated emergency department (ED) visits in Nevada. The 2009 to 2017 Nevada State ED database (n = 7,950,554 ED visits) were used. Use of opioid, heroin, and cannabis, respectively, was identified by the International Classification of Diseases, 9th & 10th Revisions. Three multivariable models, one for each of the 3 dependent variables, were conducted. Independent variables included year, insurance status, race/ethnicity, use of other substance, and mental health conditions. The number of individuals with opioid, heroin, cannabis-associated ED visits increased 3%, 10%, and 23% annually from 2009 to 2015, particularly …

Erotic Manga, Its Artists, And The Pressures Of Censorship, Dominique Andrée Lief

University Honors Theses

Erotic manga (エロマンガ), a genre of adult-oriented Japanese comics is subjected to censorship that may seem irrelevant or confusing to people outside of the industry. Why is erotic manga censored? How is erotic manga censored? How does censorship affect erotic manga artists? These questions are examined through use of English academic sources, Japanese academic sources and news articles, and interviews with professional erotic manga artists translated into English.

Report On The 2018 Impact Study Of Recreational Park Use On The Nesting Success Of Actinemys Marmorata, Chrysemys Picta Bellii, And Trachemys Scripta Elegans, Joseph Gayaldo

University Honors Theses

In June and July 2018, I, in collaboration with the Audubon Society volunteers, City park managers, and the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, conducted turtle nesting surveys at three known nesting sites in the Park in order to discern the effects of recreational park use on turtle nesting success, and turtle nesting behavior. This study was conducted to aid the City in their development of a ten-year habitat management plan, as well as inform and contribute to their overarching conservation and restoration efforts by the City. We observed two nesting attempts with one being successful, eleven attempted nests, and …

Cortical Thickness Comparison Of Asd And Td Subjects, Jonathan Rigoberto Uriarte-Lopez

University Honors Theses

With 1 out of every 59 adolescents diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), more research interest has been dedicated to studying why ASD individuals experience their symptoms of restricted and/or repetitive behaviors, and deficits in social interaction and communication. ASD can only be diagnosed by psychiatric evaluation of behavior, and there is a lack of reliable biomarkers for ASD to verify the diagnosis. To potentially find a reliable biomarker, we compared cortical thickness in 911 ASD subjects and 999 controls from the Autism Brain Imaging Data Exchange (ABIDE) dataset. The dataset was processed using the Developmental Cognition and Neuroimaging (DCAN) …

Statistical Methods And Validation Procedures For Spike Sorting, Michael Thomas

University Honors Theses

Spike sorting is the process of converting a recording of the electrical activity generated by neurons firing in the brain, into a representation of the timings for each distinct neuron's firing. This representation of neuronal firings, when paired with data on the subjects' perceptions or actions during the recording, can then be used to map patterns of brain activity to specific stimuli or behaviors. Here we will examine the evolution of mathematical techniques employed to tackle this problem, as well as examine a few of the still open questions.

How Urban Land Use Contributes To Inequitable Health Outcomes: An Interdisciplinary Review & Analysis, Bliss Storm Croton

University Honors Theses

Using existing literature as a basis for initial review, this paper seeks to explore the relationship between urban land use and socioeconomic status as both pertain to the prevalence of psychological health diagnoses among neighborhood residents. The purpose of this analysis is to investigate the combined literature from multiple areas of research in order to gain a more holistic, up-to-date scope of knowledge regarding how discriminatory neighborhood land use may result in poorer psychological health outcomes for urban populations. By utilizing an interdisciplinary approach, some of the locally relevant, long-term impacts of uneven development and environmental injustice are examined based …

Art Therapy And Dialectical Behavioral Therapy: A Workbook, Jasmine S. Griswold

University Honors Theses

Looking into the ways in which we treat anxiety and depression in both clinical and casual settings it seemed apparent that there are similar tools being utilized to alleviate the effects, but there didn’t seem to be a cohesion of these tools. With Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT) a mindfulness based approach to therapy and the use of art as a tool to create dialogue in Art Therapy (AT) it seemed appropriate to combine the modalities to create a workbook that could be used on one's own or in conjunction with a therapist.

Single-Molecule Imaging Of Hiv-1 Envelope Glycoprotein Dynamics And Gag Lattice Association Exposes Determinants Responsible For Virus Incorporation, Nairi Pezeshkian, Nicholas S. Groves, Schuyler B. Van Engelenburg

Biological Sciences: Faculty Scholarship

The HIV-1 envelope glycoprotein (Env) is sparsely incorporated onto assembling virus particles on the host cell plasma membrane in order for the virus to balance infectivity and evade the immune response. Env becomes trapped in a nascent particle on encounter with the polymeric viral protein Gag, which forms a dense protein lattice on the inner leaflet of the plasma membrane. While Env incorporation efficiency is readily measured biochemically from released particles, very little is known about the spatiotemporal dynamics of Env trapping events. Herein, we demonstrate, via high-resolution single-molecule tracking, that retention of Env trimers within single virus assembly sites …

Superhydrophobic Particle Ejections From Liquid Surfaces In Microgravity Environments, Elaina L. Gabriel

University Honors Theses

This paper explores a completely new avenue of microgravity fluidics that has not been systematically studied before, exploring superhydrophobic particle ejections from liquid surfaces in microgravity environments and quantifying the particle velocity varying particle. Superhydrophobic surfaces greatly reduce liquid-substrate contact. This allows for spontaneous ejection of floating particles in drop tower experiments. To quantify such phenomena, a drop tower experiment is constructed and tested. The Dryden Tower (DDT) is a laboratory facility at Portland State University that allows for the investigation of short duration exploration and research on Earth of 'micro-gravity' phenomena similar to that aboard orbiting spacecraft. Perhaps surprisingly, …

Caring About Aftercare: Thesis Presentation Of Initial Findings, Sage B. Fuentes

University Honors Theses

While previous research has studied the impact of stigma and non-normative play within the BDSM and kink community, previous psychological research involving BDSM practitioners has not investigated the cultural practice of aftercare that tends to follow the highly sensationalized acts within the culture. The current study examines this cultural practice by giving a series of semi-structured interviews to assess the importance of aftercare and how it impacts negotiations and play. BDSM practitioners (n = 11) participated in audio recorded interviews regarding questions on identity, kink, aftercare, consent, and negotiation. 72.73% of individuals rated aftercare as mostly to largely important in …

“People Come And Go But We Don’T See Anything”: How Might Social Research Contribute To Social Change?, Nathan Andrews, Sylvia Bawa

The Qualitative Report

In different fields of study, scholars interested in making a positive difference in the lives of their research communities insist on engaging policy makers and activists in their work. Paulo Freire, one of the most widely known public intellectuals, asserts that praxis enables critical thought, awareness and collaborative action for emancipation for oppressed groups. Within this framework, our contribution aims to provoke thinking on the need for accountability to research subjects in development research through an emphasis on producing policy-focused and change-driven, as opposed to purely theoretically oriented, knowledge. The overarching argument is that research should, in fact, be conscious …

Breaking The Secrets Behind The Polyglots: How Do They Acquire Many Languages?, Noprival Noprival, Zainal Rafli, Nuruddin Nuruddin

The Qualitative Report

In this study, participants acquired three types of language, those are regional, national and foreign ones. The purpose of this research was to explore how Indonesian polyglots acquire several different languages. We collected data through demographic questionnaires and semi-structured interviews obtained from nine participants. Four salient themes and sub-themes that emerged in this research were (a) mastering languages through instructed learning (learning in formal educational institution and learning in informal educational institution), (b) gaining extra amounts of languages input beyond the classroom (getting more access to a national language environment and getting more access to foreign languages environment), (c) learning …

Justice Scalia Got It Right, But For The Wrong Reasons: Scalia’S Recognition Of The Supreme Court’S “Southern Exception” In U.S. Constitutional Jurisprudence And The Connection Of “Southern Exceptionalism” To “American Exceptionalism", James D. Wilets

University of Miami Law Review

The late Justice Scalia has repeatedly and sardonically noted that the Supreme Court has discounted the views of Southern states in determining whether there is a consensus among the states with regards to a Constitutional norm. This Article has termed that Supreme Court position as “Southern Exception” and can be viewed as an effort by some Justices to address the unique social, economic, religious and cultural traditions in the South engendered by its unique" and “exceptional” history. This Article will also explore how this "Southern Exception" affected American jurisprudence to the point of rendering it "exceptional" from much of the …

The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, Dallas Heaton, Usu Opera, Errik M. Hood

All Music Department Programs

USU Opera production of "The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee" by William Finn, Rachel Sheinkin, Rebecca Feldman with additional material by Jay Reiss.

Presumptive Deference And The Role Of Expertise On Questions Of Law In Canadian Administrative Law, Cheryl Laura Bowman

LLM Theses

Administrators in Canada are presumptively accorded deference on questions of law. This deference is grounded largely in expertise, a pragmatic justification for deference. This thesis examines the relationship of expertise to other practical justifications for deference and to legislative intent. This thesis questions (i) whether assumptions about administrative expertise are grounded in administrative realities; (ii) whether deference to expertise has a meaningful nexus with legislative intent; and (iii) whether heavy reliance on expertise leaves meaningful room for judicial review on questions of law within reasonableness. I conclude that the doctrine of deference relies too heavily on presumptions about the expertise …

Department Of Literature News, Georgia Southern University

Literature News (2013-2020)

• "The First of Many Firsts": Reflections on the 2019 Women & Girls in Georgia Conference

Students’ Academic Performance And Dropout Predictions: A Review, Ahmed O. Ameen, Moshood A. Alarape, Kayode S. Adewole

Malaysian Journal of Computing (MJoC)

Students’ Academic Performance (SAP) is an important metric in determining the status of students in any academic institution. It allows the instructors and other education managers to get an accurate evaluation of the students in different courses in a particular semester and also serve as an indicator to the students to review their strategies for better performance in the subsequent semesters. Predicting SAP is therefore important to help learners in obtaining the best from their studies. A number of researches in Educational Psychology (EP), Learning Analytics (LA) and Educational Data Mining (EDM) has been carried out to study and predict …

Longitudinal And Geographic Trends In Family Engagement During The Pre-Kindergarten To Kindergarten Transition, Susan M. Sheridan, Natalie A. Koziol, Amanda Witte, Iheoma Iruka, Lisa Knoche

Nebraska Center for Research on Children, Youth, Families, and Schools: Faculty Publications

The transition to kindergarten is foundational for children’s future school performance and families’ relationships with the educational system. Despite its well-documented benefits, few studies have explored family engagement across the pre- Kindergarten (pre-K) to kindergarten transition nor considered the role of geographic context during this period. This study examined trajectories of family engagement across the pre-K to kindergarten transition, and identified whether engagement differs for families in rural versus urban settings. Participants were 248 parents of children who participated in publicly funded pre-K programs and transitioned 1 year later into kindergarten. Home-based involvement increased from pre-K through kindergarten. School-based involvement …

Handling Highly Imbalanced Output Class Label: A Case Study On Fantasy Premier League (Fpl) Virtual Player Price Changes Prediction Using Machine Learning, Muhammad Muhaimin Khamsan, Ruhaila Maskat

Malaysian Journal of Computing (MJoC)

In practice, a balanced target class is rare. However, an imbalanced target class can be handled by resampling the original dataset, either by oversampling/upsampling or undersampling/downsampling. A popular upsampling technique is Synthetic Minority Over-sampling Technique (SMOTE). This technique increases the minority class by generating synthetic class labels and assigned the class based on the K-Nearest Neighbour (K-NN). SMOTE upsampling can only upsample at most one minority class at a time, which means for a multiclass dataset, it needs to undergo multilayer SMOTE to balance the class label distribution. This paper aims to find a suitable method in handling imbalanced class …

Factors Affecting Acceptance Of At-Birth Point Of Care Hiv Testing Among Providers And Parents In Kenya: A Qualitative Study., Catherine Wexler, May Maloba, Melinda Brown, Natabhona Mabachi, Kathy Goggin, Brad Gautney, Beryne Odeny, Sarah Finocchario-Kessler

Manuscripts, Articles, Book Chapters and Other Papers

BACKGROUND: At-birth and point-of-care (POC) HIV testing are emerging strategies to streamline infant HIV diagnosis and expedite ART initiation for HIV-positive infants. The purpose of this qualitative study was to evaluate factors influencing the provision and acceptance of at-birth POC testing among both HIV care providers and parents of HIV-exposed infants in Kenya.

METHODS: We conducted semi-structured interviews with 26 HIV care providers and 35 parents of HIV-exposed infants (including 23 mothers, 6 fathers, and 3 mother-father pairs) at four study hospitals prior to POC implementation. An overview of best available evidence related to POC was presented to participants prior …

Recruitment Marketing: How Do Wellness And Work-Life Benefits Influence Employer Image Perceptions, Organizational Attraction, And Job Pursuit Intentions?, Amy Christine Pytlovany

Dissertations and Theses

A global talent shortage is motivating employers to change the way they approach recruitment. To stay competitive, business leaders are strategizing new ways to attract employees and market their organizations to prospective employees. This research examined the impact of work-life and wellness programs on employer image perceptions (instrumental, symbolic, and experiential) and recruitment outcomes (organizational attraction and job pursuit intentions). It integrated these literatures to inform evidence-based organizational decision-making.

Study materials were developed with pilot testing conducted using Amazon Mechanical Turk (MTurk). Pilot 1 (N = 40) assessed the value of 32 types of benefits across traditional (e.g., health …