Digital Commons Network^™

Sheep Are Sentient, But Not Identical, Alison Hanlon

Animal Sentience

Marino & Merskin (M&M) provide a timely reminder that sheep have advanced cognitive abilities, but do we still have to provide evidence to justify animal sentience? In the EU, regulations are designed to support farm animal welfare. Whilst the regulations are imperfect, they do emphasize behavioural needs and other concepts relevant to sentience. The persistence of sheep welfare issues such as lamb mortality indicates that regulations may not be achieving their desired goal. We can quibble about the science described by M&M yet reach the same conclusion: sheep (lambs, ewes and rams) are not all identical, but they are all …

The Intrinsic Value Of Nature, Joanna E. Lambert

Animal Sentience

Treves et al. explain the need to preserve the rights of nonhuman species, human youth, and future generations. Although conservation biology has claimed to have an intrinsic valuation ethic since its inception in the 1980s, many aspects of the field have taken a decidedly anthropocentric and instrumentalist trajectory. This has important consequences for conservation-related policy and practice at all scales: local, regional, and global.

Just Preservation, Adrian Treves, Francisco J. Santiago-Ávila, William S. Lynn

Animal Sentience

We are failing to protect the biosphere. Novel views of conservation, preservation, and sustainability are surfacing in the wake of consensus about our failures to prevent extinction or slow climate change. We argue that the interests and well-being of non-humans, youth, and future generations of both human and non-human beings (futurity) have too long been ignored in consensus-based, anthropocentric conservation. Consensus-based stakeholder-driven processes disadvantage those absent or without a voice and allow current adult humans and narrow, exploitative interests to dominate decisions about the use of nature over its preservation for futurity of all life. We propose that authentically non-anthropocentric …

Protecting Patients Who Lack A Voice, Rainer Spiegel

Animal Sentience

Neither human young today nor future human generations nor non-human species have a voice in protecting the biosphere. Treves et al. propose courts and trustees for defending their interests. I describe an analogy with attempts to represent the interests of children and comatose patients in medicine.

Discounting Women: Doubting Domestic Violence Survivors’ Credibility And Dismissing Their Experiences, Deborah Epstein, Lisa A. Goodman

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

In recent months, we’ve seen an unprecedented wave of testimonials about the serious harms women all too frequently endure. The #MeToo moment, the #WhyIStayed campaign, and the Larry Nassar sentencing hearings have raised public awareness not only about workplace harassment, domestic violence, and sexual abuse, but also about how routinely women survivors face a Gaslight-style gauntlet of doubt, disbelief, and outright dismissal of their stories. This pattern is particularly disturbing in the justice system, where women face a legal twilight zone: laws meant to protect them and deter further abuse often fail to achieve their purpose, because women telling stories …

“A Dark Archway Of Rusticated Stone”: Depictions Of Moral Obligation In Greene’S The Human Factor And Waugh’S Brideshead Revisited, Thomas J. Carter

EWU Masters Thesis Collection

No abstract provided.

Turnover Of Outdoor Adventure Education Field Staff, Justin M. Hall

EWU Masters Thesis Collection

Outdoor adventure education (OAE) organizations continually struggle with field staff turnover. Little research exists of this unique worker population and their unconventional living and working conditions warrant further exploration of the variables that best drive this phenomenon. The purpose of this study was to explore the strength and direction of the relationships between turnover predictor variables and intent to turnover (IT) of OAE field staff. Per the suggestion of organizational behavior and OAE literature, and conversations with OAE practitioners, five independent predictor variables were chosen; (a) tenure; (b) career development opportunities; (c) sense of community; (d) compensation satisfaction; and (e) …

Raising Arizona: A Visual Rhetorical Analysis Of Kyrsten Sinema's And Martha Mcsally's 2018 Campaign Announcement Videos, Audrey L. Oswald

EWU Masters Thesis Collection

This study examines the visual and verbal components of Kyrsten Sinema’s and Martha McSally’s campaign video announcements as both candidates competed for the 2018 Arizona Senate. The primary research objective was to understand how the audience demographics and the rhetorical situation faced by each candidate affected the choice of visual components for the persuasion of potential voters. The study concludes that the visual messages were chosen primarily to appeal to each candidate’s supporting viewers. Sinema’s message, however, was more intersectional in that it appealed to a larger body of potential voters across party lines. The candidates appeal to voters using …

Detecting And Mapping Real-Time Influenza-Like Illness Using Twitter Stream Data, Elisha D. Brunette

EWU Masters Thesis Collection

Influenza has been identified by the World Health Organization as a global issue that could be more effectively served through an accelerated and widely-accessible public health surveillance tracking process. The ability to map and predict influenza outbreaks in a real-time heat map would be invaluable to health care systems to prepare for influenza outbreaks. In this study, the Twitter stream data is filtered to identify potential influenza-like illness (ILI) cases. Then the tracking of real-time influenza cases is further explored and analyzed through various machine-learning models. Among seven learning models developed to identify ILI tweets, the ELMo deep neural network …

Richwood, West Virginia After The 2016 Flood: Place, Devastation, And Hope In An Appalachian Community, Christine Elizabeth Witt

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

How does a community cope with a crisis that threatens its identity or even its existence? This is the question facing the town of Richwood, West Virginia, after a devastating flood that impacted much of the town in 2016. Some of the consequences of the 2016 flood were the loss of the high school building, followed by difficulties receiving the FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) money to rebuild the school, and a loss of additional FEMA money for other critical issues due to alleged corruption. How do community residents cope emotionally with devastation? How do they understand the causes of …

Rule Extraction And Insertion To Improve The Performance Of A Dynamic Cell Structure Neural Network, Osama Amhamed Elsarrar

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Artificial Neural Networks are extremely useful machine learning tools. They are used for many purposes, such as prediction, classification, pattern recognition, etc. Although neural networks have been used for decades, they are still often not completely understood or trusted, especially in safety and mission critical situations. Typically, neural networks are trained on data sets that are representative of what needs to be learned. Sometimes training sets are constructed in order to train the neural network in a certain way, in order to embed appropriate knowledge. The purpose of this research is to determine if there is another method that can …

The Acute Effect Of Propanil On Reproductive Hormones, Ovarian Gene Expression And Splenic Cells In C57bl/6 Female Mice, Malia Danielle Berg

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Earlier evidence indicates exposure to propanil, a post-emergent herbicide used on rice and wheat fields, increases the number of antibody-secreting cells (ASC) in the spleen of mice after immunization with heat-killed Streptococcus pneumoniae (HKSP, 2x10⁸ CFU). Interestingly, an intact hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal (HPG) axis is required for this immune response assessed on day 7-10 after immunization in female mice. Hence, an overarching premise is that propanil arbitrates the connection between the reproductive and immune system by altering the concentration of hormones involved in the HPG axis, which may then affect the populations of splenic cells. Hypotheses were tested with C57Bl/6 female …

Being Mindful Of Perfectionism And Performance Among Athletes In A Judged Sport, Erika D. Van Dyke

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Literature pertaining to mindfulness and perfectionism in sport has expanded greatly in recent years. However, little research has integrated mindfulness and perfectionism, particularly within sports where athletes are judged on performance to a standard of perfection. The current study had two primary aims: (1) to explore profiles of mindfulness and perfectionism among intercollegiate gymnasts through a person-centered approach, and (2) to analyze differences in objective performance measures across the resulting profiles. The analytic sample consisted of 244 NCAA gymnasts representing NCAA Division I, II, and III institutions. Gymnasts completed self-report measures of mindfulness and perfectionism. Competitive performance records (i.e., national …

Latin American Influences On Selected Piano Pieces By Louis Moreau Gottschalk And Darius Milhaud, Hyejeong Seong

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

This research document examines selected piano works by Louis Moreau Gottschalk (1829-1869) and Darius Milhaud (1892-1974) that are influenced by Latin American cultures.The paper traces the influence of Latin American music and the incorporation of characteristic melodic, harmonic, and rhythmic elements in the following compositions: Souvenir de Porto Rico, op. 31 (1857) and Souvenir de la Havane, op. 39 (1859) by Gottschalk; Saudades do Brasil, op. 67 (1920-1921) and Brasileira: Third movement of Scaramouche Suite, op. 165b (1937), for Two Pianos, by Milhaud. After a brief introduction, the study reviews the existing related literature about this topic. Then, Chapters Three …

Critical Physicochemical Properties For Nanoparticle Toxicity: Impact Of Surface Coating And Size On Particle-Induced Cell Transformation And Inflammatory Response, Tiffany Kornberg

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Nanoparticles, which measure 100 nm in at least one dimension, have surged in development, production, and use for a wide range of applications. However, the rapid pace of development for these emerging materials with unclear/unknown toxicity profiles makes it difficult to adequately assess health risk associated with exposure. One critical obstacle which limits scientific research to fill these critical knowledge gaps is the lack of accurate and predictive models for nanotoxicology studies, particularly those which involve occupationally relevant exposure scenarios (pulmonary exposure to low dose of particles in the circulating air). Typically, animal models are used to assess potential systemic …

Evaluating The Consistency Of A Breathing Flow Recording Device Across Different Elastomeric Half-Mask Respirators, Samuel Jennings Munnis

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

The National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) is the organization in charge of approving respiratory devices in the United States, as permitted by 42 CFR Part 84. Standards that NIOSH uses to certify powered air-purifying respirators (PAPRs) are based on respiratory data collected before the 21^st century. With new technologies, it is possible to gain a more accurate understanding of breathing flow of healthcare workers (HCWs). A new portable breathing flow recording device developed by The S.E.A. Group was intended for use with a Sundström SR100 mask with a P100 filter. This study tests the device with …

Psychological Trauma And Resilience Of Police Officers Involved In An Ambush: An Exploratory Study, Erin A. Teaff

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Law enforcement officers are widely recognized as having one of the most dangerous and stressful occupations, which can lead to lasting physical and psychological impacts. While research has examined the psychological trauma and resilience experienced by police officers, there have been very few research studies involving ambushes. Due to the continued risk of ambushes on police officers, gaining insight into the trauma and resilience of officers during these types of situations would be beneficial in providing psychologists with information to aid in their treatment officers involved in an ambush and similar unprovoked attacks. The primary aim of this study was …

Pain Relief Knowledge, History, And Expectations Among Emergency Dental Patients, Daniel C. Brawley

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Introduction

Dentists frequently treat and manage patients with acute dental pain. Patients often seek care to treat their pain. As a part of that treatment, it is common for providers to use both prescription and non-prescription medications in the management of the patient’s dental pain. This study focused on understanding the patient’s knowledge, history and expectations regarding prescription and non-prescription medication in the management of their dental pain.

Methods

A self-report survey was developed, using Likert-type scales, consisting of 32 items, including standardized, psychometrically-tested instruments. The survey was administered to 108 adult outpatients who reported to the West Virginia University …

Chemometric Calibration Of Surface Enchanced Raman Spectra For Quantitative Analysis, Xiaofei Shi

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Raman spectroscopy, recognized as a powerful analytical technique, has been widely employed in many fields especially in the detection of hazard material containing in food or water. However, multiplexed analyte quantification based on Raman spectra remains a challenge due to the difficulties in accurate and precise modeling of the relationship between multiple analyte concentrations and dense spectral data with noise.

In this work, a statistical procedure was developed to efficiently generate high-quality calibration models quantifying the analyte concentrations versus spectra relationship. The resulting calibration models are able to provide estimated concentration ranges (which reflect both point and uncertainty estimates) for …

Fundamental Mechanism Of Time Dependent Failure In Shale, Neel Gupta

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

In underground coal mines, mining activity disturbs the natural equilibrium state of in-situ stresses. The induced and in-situ stresses deform the rockmass surrounding the mine openings. Primary roof supports impede the deformation of the rockmass overlying the entries. However, failure can occur in the bolted rockmass, causing fatalities and injuries. The rockmass failure is erratic, and its occurrence often varies from a few days to months and years after the opening of the entry. One of the often-neglected factors in this process is the effect of time on the stability of mine openings, which can often be observed in the …

Promoting Cognitive And Fine Motor Development In The Art Room For Young Students With Exposure To Trauma: An Exploratory Case Study., Tiffany Marie Minuci

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Despite the overwhelming research that suggests visual artmaking experiences can produce positive outcomes for individuals, many state art education policies fail to implement and integrate the arts into core academic curriculums. Specifically in the state of West Virginia, kindergarten through twelfth grade students often lack the access to a quality and consistent art education. With high teacher-pupil ratios and inclusive learning environments, educators face the difficult task of meeting all the individual needs of their students’ in the classroom. This not only affects whole student populations, but also poses risks for children who have been exposed to trauma. Traumatic experiences …

Identity Formation Of Adolescents Who Are Homeschooled: Mothers' Perceptions, Peggy Joan Mcqueen

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Homeschooling is a growing educational choice with very little research about the psycho-social outcomes associated with the process. This qualitative study sought to examine the potential facilitative benefit of homeschooling upon the formation of identity. The participants were 26 mothers of homeschooled adolescents in Pennsylvania. Parent responses were examined using thematic analysis. Constituent aspects of parental motivation and methodology were investigated to assess the presence of elements facilitative in the process of identity formation as identified by Erik Erikson (1959, 1963). In examining methods used in homeschooling, it was found that the mothers in this study are providing the support …

Assessment Of Fracture Resistance Of Maxillary First Molars After Root Canal Preparation Using Three Different Rotary Instruments (V-Taper, Protaper, Vortex Blue): Finite Element Analysis, Mehran Malakpour

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Introduction: Long term success of endodontically treated teeth has been one of the most challenging aspects of the field of endodontics due to reduced fracture resistance of these teeth. Recently, researchers have heightened focus on conservative endodontics in order to sustain the tooth integrity, and reduce factors impacting the fracture resistance of endodontically treated teeth. As a result, rotary instrument manufacturers have developed files that have a minimal effect on original root canal anatomy. This study used Finite Element Analysis to investigate the dental biomechanical effect of rotary instrumentation during root canal therapy. The aim of this study is to …

Enabling Robust State Estimation Through Covariance Adaptation, Ryan Magnum Watson

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Several robust state estimation frameworks have been proposed over the previous decades. Underpinning all of these robust frameworks is one dubious assumption. Specifically, the assumption that an accurate a priori measurement uncertainty model can be provided. As systems become more autonomous, this assumption becomes less valid (i.e., as systems start operating in novel environments, there is no guarantee that the assumed a priori measurement uncertainty model characterizes the sensors current observation uncertainty).

In an attempt to relax this assumption, a novel robust state estimation framework is proposed. The proposed framework enables robust state estimation through the iterative adaptation of the …

Multidimensional Analysis Of Vulnerability: Methodological Advances And A Case Study From Malawi., Park Mcmillan Muhonda

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Since 1990s rural households in Malawi, constituting 85% of the population, have experienced deepening livelihood vulnerability, often manifested as persistent food insecurity. Livelihood crises have since been blamed on or attributed directly to weather perturbations/climatic shocks i.e. El-Nino induced climate variability/drought conditions. This study revealed that persistent livelihood crisis in rural Malawi cannot be attributed to or squarely blamed on weather shocks alone, rather it is at the intersection of various livelihoods shocks that rural livelihood vulnerability in Malawi is exacerbated i.e. worsening and deepening.

Thus, rural livelihood vulnerability to climate shocks in Malawi is manifest not in isolation but …

The Potential Promises And Pitfalls Of Using Local Norms For Gifted Identification, Marla S. Hartman

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Who are the gifted? This question has plagued the field since its inception. Historically, gifted education has been predicated on the values of the Caucasian, upper- to middle-class majority. As a result, underrepresentation of students from economically disadvantaged and culturally diverse families have been well documented in the literature and continues to this day. Some scholars have suggested the use of expanded definitions of giftedness to increase participation of students from underrepresented segments of the population. This study used regression and hierarchical linear models to predict the proportion of students identified across various thresholds focusing on how definitions impacted differential …

Developing A Strategic Process To Reintroduce A Lost Water Way As A Possible Solution For Water Logging: Case Study, An Area Of Dhaka Metropolitan City, Debsree Mandal

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

During the rainy season, Dhaka, the capital city of Bangladesh, faces tremendous rainfall which is annually 1600mm-2000 mm and it is increasing at a rate of 55.90 mm/year. So, in monsoon, some areas of this city suffer from water logging which continues from 3 hours up to two feet to more than one day. It increases the hazards for everyday life for the city dwellers, especially in the transportation and working sectors of the city which follows other socio-economic, health and environmental problem.

Dhaka is one of the most populous cities in the world. This area is almost flat and …

Investigation Of Various Factors Affecting Quantification And Characterization Accuracy Of Nox Measurement At Near Zero Level In A Cvs Sampling Set-Up, Samuel Abimbola Ogunfuye

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Accurate measurement of oxides of nitrogen (NOx) concentrations at near-zero levels using the constant volume sampling (CVS) system is a critical consideration in emissions quantification for engine and vehicle research and certification purposes. Various technological efforts and research are being implemented to ensure emissions from automobile and on-road transportation sources tend towards lower concentrations. This development has resulted in NOx concentration measurements to shift towards near-zero and thus, reach the detection limits of traditional measurement approaches and methods. There are several factors that might deter achieving measurement accuracy at this level, as their effect becomes significant at low NOx concentrations. …

The Environmental, Social, And Economic Benefits Of Blue Green Infrastructure In An Urbanized Area, Joseph L. Oguns

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

At present, it is evident that there is a shift from rural to an urban settlement which results in high demand for residential buildings and other urban infrastructure. Blue – Green Infrastructure (BGI) is a system of using blue (water) and green (nature) to address urban and environmental challenges. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the environmental, social, and economic benefits of blue-green infrastructure in an urbanized area in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA. The study involves the utilization of Geographic Information System (GIS) to determine water quality level resulting from nonpoint source pollution through acquiring elevation data; watershed; and …

Genet-Cnv: Boolean Implication Networks For Modeling Genome-Wide Co-Occurrence Of Dna Copy Number Variations, Salvi Singh

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer-related death in the world. Lung cancer can be categorized as non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and small cell lung cancer (SCLC). NSCLC makes up about 80% to 85% of lung cancer cases diagnosed, whereas SCLC is responsible for 10% to 15% of the cases. It remains a challenge for physicians to identify patients who shall benefit from chemotherapy. In such a scenario, identifying genes that can facilitate therapeutic target discoveries and better understanding disease mechanisms and their regulation in different stages of lung cancer, remains an important topic of research.

In this …