Digital Commons Network^™

Living Tangent, Cornelius Alexander Hugo

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

A living tangent is how I am known by many and how I have lived my life for some time. I think in tangents and my life and art seem to evolve through them. Everything I make is connected by multiple thoughts or tangent lines that run from something as simple as the color red, to the idea that I believe communism has invaded my family’s homeland. This then leads to the recollection of childhood games, taught to me by my family in Venezuela and the importance these games played in my psychological development and in my presence as an …

Evaluation Of A Marketing Strategy Based On The Concept Of Virtual Energy Audit, Goutham Kumar Reddy Challa

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

With the growing world population and efforts to bring better energy access to the people, energy needs of the world are expected to grow in the coming years. Given the limited availability of non-renewable resources, there has been a mounting consensus among the users and the stakeholders to utilize the available energy in the most efficient way by implementing various methods like use of advanced technologies, source reduction, behavioral changes, etc. Energy efficiency in general is considered as a win-win scenario for all the users and/or stakeholders involved as it not only lowers the base load for power generating companies, …

Roses & Thorns, Stephanie Alaniz

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

This written thesis has been created alongside the thesis exhibition shown in the Laura Mesaros Gallery at West Virginia University (displayed March 18th to March 22nd). The work presented consisted of drawings, bookmaking, and various forms of printmaking and collage. This body of work is meant to create an analysis of insecurities and body positivity we associate with our physical selves. This work is a collective experience that has been a collaboration with over 80 participants. The number of participants help to create a larger overall collective voice. By creating this collective voice, we can experience these feelings together and …

Quantifying The Announcement Effects In The U.S. Lumber Market, Zarina Mamadalievna Ismailova

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

The impact of public reports on price fluctuations has been widely investigated in many commodity markets, but little attention has been paid to the lumber market. In this thesis, we examine the impact of two housing market reports, namely the New Residential Construction (Housing Starts) and the New Residential Sales reports, on the U.S. lumber futures market. Our results suggest that the housing starts report does indeed affect lumber market volatility, while the New Residential sales report exerts a minor impact on lumber price volatility. Price volatility is measured by changes future contract prices for lumber. We further find that …

2.8: Designing Visitor Experience For A Narrative-Oriented Exhibition, Kseniia Leshchenko

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

This thesis proposes interactive visitor experience with social media and fake news references at 2.8 thesis exhibition at West Virginia University. 2.8 refers to the distance between the United States and Russia borders in the Bering Strait and suggests that switching a point of view helps conflicting groups find common ground. By designing a space in such a way that a visitor constantly faces an alternative point of view, which in this case represents my own, I investigate whether this experience contributes to the viewers’ outlook change. Another aim is to see whether adding interactive elements to a show improves …

Optimization Of Engineered Super Donor Strains Of Cryphonectria Parasitica To Reduce Canker Expansion In A Forest Setting, Amy Michelle Metheny

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Chestnut blight, caused by the non-native fungus Cryphonectria parasitica, has decimated American chestnut (Castanea dentata) populations throughout the eastern U.S. over the last century. Biological control of blight, termed hypovirulence, has emerged naturally in the form of a debilitating hypovirus transmitted through hyphal anastomosis among vegetatively compatible C. parasitica strains. Six unlinked vegetative incompatibility (vic) loci regulate hyphal anastomosis and thus, hypovirus transmission, which has limited biocontrol efficacy in genotypically diverse communities. Recently, four of six vic loci have been disrupted to engineer two “super donor” or SD strains. In combining these strains, enhanced transmission …

The Effect Of Resident Attitudes, Social Capital, And Stakeholder Engagement On Rural Tourism Development In West Virginia., Doug Arbogast

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

While rural tourism has been a prominent topic of tourism research sine the 1970’s, more research is needed to further identify key factors for success and methodologies successful in achieving both theoretical and practical outcomes that can advance field of study. This study attempted to apply a mixed methods approach, utilizing both quantitative and qualitative methods to explore factors for success by gathering data from a wide range of stakeholders attempting to triangulate results using a transdisciplinary approach. Multi-stakeholder engagement (key informants, local residents, and visitors) in the tourism development process is essential in identifying opportunities and challenges and appropriate …

A Pedagogical Guide To Kapustin’S Eight Concert Etudes, Op. 40, Yanjing Gu

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

The etude is an important genre in piano literature and most piano teachers select etudes as teaching material for students to improve their technique and musical sensitivity. As etudes developed and evolved, they have served not only for technical study, but also as concert repertoire that beautifully represents composers’ personal styles. Since the initial appearance of the etude as a genre in the early 19^th century, composers from subsequent time periods have continued to write etudes.

While a number of scholarly works discuss etudes, relatively little attention has been devoted to etudes composed in the late 20th century, compared …

Using Machine Learning And Traditional Statistics To Explore Retention And Knowledge Structure In Stem With An Emphasis On Physics, Cabot Alexander Zabriskie

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Retention of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) students is a serious problem as STEM graduation rates continue to lag the growing demand for the skills taught by these degree programs. Critical to fixing this “leaky pipeline” is investment in improving retention in the first two years of college study and increasing and maintaining the interest of K-12 students in STEM. This thesis will address this in three parts. The first is through evaluation of conceptual tests used to evaluate course improvements to determine the structure student knowledge measured by them. The second part uses machine learning to construct early …

Character Morality, Enjoyment, And Appreciation: A Replication Of Eden, Daalmans, And Johnson (2017), Koji Yoshimura

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Much research on media entertainment seeks to explain why viewers enjoy and appreciate a variety of media content. Affective disposition theory suggests that media enjoyment results from perceptions of the morality of characters and viewers’ expectations for characters’ narrative outcomes. However, research has struggled to explain how characters with varying morality (i.e., not perfectly good or bad) entertain viewers. This study replicates a previous study conducted by Eden, Daalmans, and Johnson (2017) that investigated different types of morally ambiguous characters, using a typology of character types based on an online, collaboratively sourced typology.

Like the original study, this study found …

Reconciling The Dissonance Between Historic Preservation And Virtual Reality Through A Place-Based Virtual Heritage System., Danny J. Bonenberger

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

This study explores a problematic disconnect associated with virtual heritage and the immersive 3D computer modeling of cultural heritage. The products of virtual heritage often fail to adhere to long-standing principles and recent international conventions associated with historic preservation, heritage recording, designation, and interpretation. By drawing upon the geographic concepts of space, landscape, and place, along with advances in Geographic Information Systems, first-person serious games, and head-mounted Virtual Reality platforms this study envisions, designs, implements, and evaluates a virtual heritage system that seeks to reconcile the dissonance between Virtual Reality and historic preservation. Finally, the dissertation examines the contributions and …

Infinite Matroids And Transfinite Sequences, Martin Andrew Storm

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

A matroid is a pair M = (E,I) where E is a set and I is a set of subsets of E that are called independent, echoing the notion of linear independence. One of the leading open problems in infinite matroid theory is the Matroid Intersection Conjecture by Nash-Williams which is a generalization of Hall’s Theorem. In [31] Jerzy Wojciechowski introduced µ- admissibility for pairs of matroids on the same ground set and showed that it is a necessary condition for the existence of a matching. A pair of matroids (M,W) with common ground set E is µ-admissible if a …

Longitudinal Associations Between Functional Disability, Depression, And Suicide In Middle-Aged And Older Adults, Julie Ann Lutz

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Suicide is a significant public health problem among older adults in the United States and around the world. There has been little research to date on longitudinal change in functional disability and depressive symptoms, both of which have been posited to be associated with suicide risk among middle-aged and older adults, and their association with death by suicide. The aims of this study were to 1) characterize longitudinal change in functional disability and depressive symptoms separately; 2) characterize the directional associations between functional disability and depressive symptoms in bivariate models; and 3) determine how different patterns of change among these …

Genetic And Pharmacologic Studies Towards Prevention Of Opioid Use Disorder, Shane W. Kaski

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Endogenous opioids mediate both analgesic and affective responses to stress. While the mu opioid receptor (MOR) produces the reinforcing euphoric effects responsible for the high abuse potential of traditional opioid analgesics, the kappa opioid receptor (KOR) is hypothesized to mediate the dysphoric component of stress. With increasing rates of opioid addiction, extensive research efforts are focused on better understanding each of these systems and how they interact, with the goal of developing less addictive pain management strategies and better approaches to addiction treatment. With this in mind, we conducted both clinical and pre-clinical studies aimed at developing better treatment strategies …

Stigma, Attitudes, And Intentions To Seek Mental Health Services In College Student-Athletes, Robert C. Hilliard M.S.

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Previous researchers have found several factors that act as barriers to college student-athletes seeking mental health services (López & Levy, 2013; Moore, 2017). One common factor throughout these studies is stigma, which is known to be associated with less favorable attitudes toward seeking help (Moreland et al., 2018). However, researchers have not explored how stigma and attitudes might influence intentions to seek counseling and actual help-seeking behaviors in student-athletes. Additionally, there is a dearth of research identifying the topics for which student-athletes are most willing to seek help. Therefore, the purposes of this study were to investigate predictors of mental …

The Impact Of Using Selected Art Therapy Approaches On Students Diagnosed On The Autism Spectrum (As) Or With Behavioral Disabilities (Bd) In An Elementary School Art Classroom., Amie Dawn Perriello

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Students with autism and behavior disorders frequently have a difficult time communicating with their teachers and peers. Art can serve as a vehicle for communication while supporting strengths and encouraging self-esteem. Yet few art teachers have the specialized training needed to work with students on the spectrum, and we are often times left to our own intuition and devices on how to deal with these students. These students deserve greater individualized education, yet this can present a unique challenge to any classroom art teacher who does not have the training to deal with students who come from these special populations. …

Intelligent Malware Detection Using File-To-File Relations And Enhancing Its Security Against Adversarial Attacks, Lingwei Chen

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

With computing devices and the Internet being indispensable in people's everyday life, malware has posed serious threats to their security, making its detection of utmost concern. To protect legitimate users from the evolving malware attacks, machine learning-based systems have been successfully deployed and offer unparalleled flexibility in automatic malware detection. In most of these systems, resting on the analysis of different content-based features either statically or dynamically extracted from the file samples, various kinds of classifiers are constructed to detect malware. However, besides content-based features, file-to-file relations, such as file co-existence, can provide valuable information in malware detection and make …

Multimodal Approach For Malware Detection, Jarilyn M. Hernandez Jimenez

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Although malware detection is a very active area of research, few works were focused on using physical properties (e.g., power consumption) and multimodal features for malware detection. We designed an experimental testbed that allowed us to run samples of malware and non-malicious software applications and to collect power consumption, network traffic, and system logs data, and subsequently to extract dynamic behavioral-based features. We also extracted code-based static features of both malware and non-malicious software applications. These features were used for malware detection based on: feature level fusion using power consumption and network traffic data, feature level fusion using network traffic …

Analyzing Satisfiability And Refutability In Selected Constraint Systems, Piotr Jerzy Wojciechowski

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

This dissertation is concerned with the satisfiability and refutability problems for several constraint systems. We examine both Boolean constraint systems, in which each variable is limited to the values true and false, and polyhedral constraint systems, in which each variable is limited to the set of real numbers R in the case of linear polyhedral systems or the set of integers Z in the case of integer polyhedral systems. An important aspect of our research is that we focus on providing certificates. That is, we provide satisfying assignments or easily checkable proofs of infeasibility depending on whether the instance …

Human Papillomavirus And Human Cytomegalovirus Infection And Association With Prognosis In Patients With Primary Glioblastoma In Pakistan, Syed Adnan Ali, Yumna Mirza, Zubair Ahmad, Nida Zahid, Ather Enam

Department of Surgery Docs

Objective: Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) is the most common adult primary brain tumor. Human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) has been studied for the past decade, and conflicting results have been reported with no conclusive role established yet. Human papillomavirus (HPV) is involved in the pathogenesis of many cancers and has a high prevalence in patients with cervical and oral cancer in Pakistan. The objective of our study was to identify the prevalence of HCMV and HPV in Pakistani patients with primary GBM.
Methods: In total, 112 primary GBM biopsies were analyzed. HCMV and HPV infection was investigated using nested and conventional polymerase chain …

Assessing The Psychosocial Factors Associated With Adherence To Exercise Referral Schemes: A Systematic Review, Michael Eynon, Jessica Foad, John Downey, Yasmin Bowmer, Hayley Mills

School of Nursing and Midwifery

This paper aimed to systematically review the evidence base to uncover the key psychosocial factors that underpin adherence to an exercise referral scheme (ERS). Databases PsycINFO, MEDLINE, SPORTDiscus, Web of Science, PubMed, PsycARTICLES, Open Grey, and PsycEXTRA were systematically searched. A parallel results-based convergent synthesis was performed by identifying key themes from quantitative and qualitative studies separately. After applying inclusion and exclusion criteria, the review included 24 eligible studies. Key findings showed intrinsic motivation, psychological need satisfaction, social support, and self-efficacy to be the prominent psychosocial factors associated with ERS adherence. In addition, lower expectations for change when entering the …

Machine Learning Methods In Predicting Chemotherapy-Induced Neutropenia In Oncology Patients Using Clinical Data, Alexander Holborow, Bryony Coupe, Mark Davies, Shangming Zhou

School of Nursing and Midwifery

No abstract provided.

Effects Of Family-Centered Care Interventions On Preterm Infants And Parents In Neonatal Intensive Care Units: A Systematic Review And Meta-Analysis Of Randomized Controlled Trials, Xiang Ding, Lihui Zhu, Rong Zhang, L Wang, T-T Wang, Jos M. Latour

School of Nursing and Midwifery

Objective: To review English and Chinese randomized controlled trials (RCTs) to determine the effects of family-centered care interventions on preterm infants’ and parental outcomes in Neonatal Intensive Care Units and to conduct a meta-analysis. Review method used: Systematic review and meta-analysis. Data sources: MEDLINE, CINAHL, EMBASE, PsycInfo, BNI, AMED and the Chinese databases CNKI and Wanfang were searched in April 2017 and updated in August 2018. Review methods: Only RCTs were included. Participants were preterm infants ≤ 37 weeks gestational age and parents. Interventions were related to family-centered care and outcome measures were infant and parent clinical outcomes. Included studies …

Science In Paediatric And Neonatal Intensive Care Nursing: International Forces Providing Evidence To Change Clinical Practice, F. J. Gill, J. M. Latour

School of Nursing and Midwifery

No abstract provided.

National Injunctions And Preclusion, Zachary D. Clopton

Michigan Law Review

Critics of national injunctions are lining up. Attorney General Jeff Sessions labeled these injunctions “absurd” and “simply unsustainable.” Justice Clarence Thomas called them “legally and historically dubious,” while Justice Neil Gorsuch mockingly referred to them as “cosmic injunctions.” Scholars in leading law reviews have called for their demise. Critics argue that national injunctions encourage forum shopping, unfairly burden the federal government, and depart from the history of equity. They also claim that national injunctions contradict the Supreme Court’s decision in United States v. Mendoza to exempt the federal government from offensive nonmutual issue preclusion—a doctrine that permits nonparties to benefit …

Promises Unfulfilled: How Investment Arbitration Tribunals Mishandle Corruption Claims And Undermine International Development, Andrew T. Bulovsky

Michigan Law Review

In recent years, the investment-arbitration and anti-corruption regimes have been in tension. Investment tribunals have jurisdiction to arbitrate disputes between investors and host states under international treaties that provide substantive protections for private investments. But these tribunals will typically decline to exercise jurisdiction over a dispute if the host state asserts that corruption tainted the investment. When tribunals close their doors to ag-grieved investors, tribunals increase the risks for investors and thus raise the cost of international investment. At the same time, the decision to decline jurisdiction creates a perverse incentive for host states to turn a blind eye to …

The New Housing Segregation: The Jim Crow Effects Of Crime-Free Housing Ordinances, Deborah N. Archer

Michigan Law Review

America is profoundly segregated along racial lines. We attend separate schools, live in separate neighborhoods, attend different churches, and shop at different stores. This rigid racial segregation results in social, economic, and resource inequality, with White communities of opportunity on the one hand and many communities of color without access to quality schools, jobs, transportation, or health care on the other. Many people view this as an unfortunate fact of life, or as a relic of legal systems long since overturned and beyond the reach of current legal process. But this is not true. On the contrary, the law continues …

Fourth Amendment Textualism, Jeffrey Bellin

Michigan Law Review

The Fourth Amendment’s prohibition of “unreasonable searches” is one of the most storied constitutional commands. Yet after decades of Supreme Court jurisprudence, a coherent definition of the term “search” remains surprisingly elusive. Even the justices know they have a problem. Recent opinions only halfheartedly apply the controlling “reasonable expectation of privacy” test and its wildly unpopular cousin, “third-party doctrine,” with a few justices in open revolt.

These fissures hint at the Court’s openness to a new approach. Unfortunately, no viable alternatives appear on the horizon. The justices themselves offer little in the way of a replacement. And scholars’ proposals exhibit …

Improving Employer Accountability In A World Of Private Dispute Resolution, Hope Brinn

Michigan Law Review

Private litigation is the primary enforcement mechanism for employment discrimination laws like Title VII, the Americans with Disabilities Act, and many related state statutes. But the expansion of extrajudicial dispute resolution—including both arbitration and prelitigation settlement agreements—has compromised this means of enforcement. This Note argues that state-enacted qui tam laws can revitalize the enforcement capacity of private litigation and provides a roadmap for enacting such legislation.

Treading On Sacred Land: First Amendment Implications Of Ice's Targeting Of Churches, Gabriella M. D'Agostini

Michigan Law Review

In the last few years, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has begun to target religious institutions—specifically churches—as a means to find and arrest undocumented immigrants. This technique is in legal tension with the First Amendment rights of free exercise of religion and free association. It is unclear, however, how these legal rights protect those most affected by this targeting tactic: undocumented immigrants. Undocumented immigrants may lack standing to challenge ICE’s tactics on their own and may require the help of related parties to protect their interests.

This Note explores a potential solution to the ambiguity surrounding undocumented immigrants’ protection under …