Digital Commons Network^™

Writing Program For Kindergarten Students, Mikayla Lunsford

2020 Fall Honors Capstone Projects - Archive

This internship research documented the experiences in implementing a writing program for a kindergarten student along with documentation that emphasizes how crucial daily writing programs are. The researcher worked with one kindergarten student and gathered data for two days every week over a period of two months on the Zoom platform. Data collected includes Zoom recordings and journal entries that document what took place during each session, including verbatim accounts of writing conferences with the student that complement each copy of the student’s writing. Journal entries also documented conferences with the parent of the students and my faculty mentor at …

The Struggle Is Real: First-Hand Accounts Of The Experiences Of Strugglingreaders At The University Of Texas At Arlington, Kelle Plummer

2020 Fall Honors Capstone Projects - Archive

Institutions of higher education aim to graduate critical thinkers who are able to reach their full potential and contribute to society in today's diverse world. The University of Texas at Arlington has identified student success as a top priority in its current strategic plan, which impacts all the University's programs, services, and initiatives. Students who are struggling readers, first-generation students, and those with learning disabilities enter the university with significant potential challenges to their ultimate success. While the university offers tutoring, disability accommodations, and other services to help remove barriers, many students still struggle. This thesis investigates students’ experiences with …

Respiratory Illness And Household Air Pollution: Problem Identification And Intervention, Hannah Flournoy

The Eleanor Mann School of Nursing Undergraduate Honors Theses

This study is an expanded literature review that identifies the key concepts of Household Air Pollution (HAP) and the relationship it has with respiratory illness. This study identifies twenty research studies that inspect HAP and respiratory symptoms across a number of communities that utilize biomass fuel as their primary fuel source. It seeks to identify the problems that come with HAP, such as childhood respiratory infection, COPD, and other respiratory illnesses. This review seeks to identify if people in low to middle income countries, who utilize biomass fuel sources, see and improved respiratory outcome from using modern cookstoves and other …

Narcissus Online: An Investigation Of Narcissism And Self-Concept Clarity In Relation To Online Dating Behaviors, Maryam Tajmirriyahi

Psychology Dissertations - Archive

Nemours studies over the years have provided extensive knowledge about the association between narcissism and romantic relationship initiation. With the increased interest in using online dating sites for finding sexual/romantic partners, it is important to examine the behavior of narcissistic individuals in online dating context. The current study systematically examined how grandiose and vulnerable narcissism (as measures of an inflated self-view), in conjunction with the level of self-concept clarity (as an additional measure of a fragile self-view) can influence a number of online dating behaviors (e.g., photographic self-presentation, inauthentic self-presentation, assertive self-presentation, self-disclosure, verbal behavior, derogatory behavior toward other daters …

Message From The Interim Vice President For Research, The Mcnair Team

McNair Scholars Research Journal

No abstract provided.

Full Issue, The Mcnair Team

McNair Scholars Research Journal

No abstract provided.

About The Mcnair Scholars Program, The Mcnair Team

McNair Scholars Research Journal

No abstract provided.

Improving Public Health Initiatives With Social Science: Lessons Learned From Covid-19, Paola A. Puentes

McNair Scholars Research Journal

No abstract provided.

Remote Sensing Of Soil Moisture Content, Susav Shrestha

2020 Fall Honors Capstone Projects - Archive

Ex-situ measurement systems for dynamic soil properties have been well studied over the years; however, they require physical extraction of soil which is an often laborious and undesirable task. A wireless remote sensing unit consisting of two stainless-steel probes were studied to correlate the changes in the input impedance to the soil moisture content. Theoretical simulations of this design were performed by modelling the soil using the complex dielectric permittivity and by using electromagnetic transmission line theory to compute the optimal spacing, length, and frequency of operation. The analysis of the simulated results shows that a design with 50 cm …

Heterogeneous Transcoding For Next Generation Multimedia Video Codecs For Efficient Communication, Shreyanka Subbarayappa

Electrical Engineering Dissertations - Archive

Innovations in the communication systems and technology are growing tremendously and the growth seen is unimaginable in the last forty years. In multimedia communication systems, technology has transformed from analog television to digital television in the video domain. Mobile phones are known as smart phones as they are used, not only to make voice calls, but also used to send emails, video calls, transfer data, GPS, taking pictures and so on. Due to the wide spread user applications, compression on data becomes important to save system resources. Video has occupied 75% of major traffic of data transfer and is expected …

Emergency Alerts And The Application Of Location Sharing, Martha Taffa

2020 Fall Honors Capstone Projects - Archive

With the advancement in technology, a lot of work has been done for the welfare and betterment of people globally. Nevertheless, there are not as many systems implemented to inform deaf or hard of hearing (DHH) people when an emergency alert is going off, or when a similar situation is taking place. This project is about the implementation of a mobile app that gives different pop-up alerts when detecting emergency sounds. The paper mainly focuses on the implementation of the audio classifier and the feature that lets a user share their location with family and friends. The Google Maps application …

Principles, Design, Fabrication, And Characterization Of Subwavelength Periodic Resonant Metasurfaces, Hafez Hemmati

Material Science and Engineering Dissertations - Archive

Since the emergence of diffraction gratings containing periodic unit cells, innumerable advances in theoretical studies and practical applications have emerged. Recently, these classic structures have been categorized as subsets of “meta-surfaces” or “meta-materials” in which periodically aligned wavelength-scale features manipulate all key properties of the electromagnetic waves in a desired manner for a wide variety of applications. This includes manipulating of amplitude, phase, spectral distribution, polarization state, and local mode structure of light in the various available spectral expressions. Among the significant characteristic properties of metasurfaces is the coupling of incident light to laterally propagating leaky Bloch modes in the …

Adult Literacy In The United States: Comparative Study Of Immigrant And American-Born Adults, Adam Keith Stein

Educational Leadership & Policy Studies Dissertations - Archive

Despite its status as a wealthy, developed nation, the United States is plagued by widespread deficiencies in adult literacy. The problem is quite severe among individuals who were born in country, yet the situation for the nation’s immigrant population is nothing short of alarming. Using the U.S. portion of the data set for the international 2012/2014 Program for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC), the study explores the impact of everyday practice on the development of literacy skills among adults aged 16 to 74. Where other studies typically focus on the literacy crisis among America’s school-age children, the present …

Exploring The Relationship Between Student Online Discussion-Board Activity And Student Grades, Frank Robert Talbott

Dissertations

As students, instructors, and higher-education administrators delve further into cyberspace, scholarly literature and practice require further insights into the dynamics of online learning. This study examined the relationship between online student discussionboard activity and student grades and, consequently, addressed a dearth in the literature about this relationship. Student Involvement Theory provided the theoretical foundation of this research. This study’s sample consisted of 200 online undergraduate students in online business-analytics courses. Regression-analyses findings supported the relationship between student postings of certain mathematical-symbol references (e.g., for equalities, inequalities, addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division) and student grades. Therefore, administrators, faculty, and course designers …

Towards A Working Definition Of Open Pedagogy, Alan Witt

Milne Library

This paper analyzes recent literature on or using the term “open pedagogy” in order to distill a working definition. The term is currently contested, and is discarded completely by some influencers due to a lack of definition and thus usefulness as a rigorous academic term. This study analyzes how researchers currently use the term in the literature, searching for commonalities, with the goal of proposing a synthesis that encompasses the majority of the field and can provide potential common ground for further research on the subject.

The result was a pool of 98 peer-reviewed articles and book chapters, which were …

Mining For Gold: Reimagining The Role Of Curricular Texts In Writing Instruction, Carrigan Price

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

Secondary schools in northern Utah frequently combine literature and composition studies into a single English Language Arts course, limiting the time English teachers have to teach the skills and content important to both. Literature and reading often overshadow writing instruction in this situation, leading to concentrated writing instruction dependent on pre-made writing curriculum and texts. The way curricular materials used during writing instruction in ELA courses present the purpose of writing, the process of writing, and the identity of writers can impact student learning and academic identity in the short- and long-term. A rhetorical analysis, looking specifically at the writing …

The Patriot Act: How It Hurts Democracy, Madison Racquel Wadsworth

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

After the devastating attacks on American soil on September 11th, 2001, the world's perceptions of security changed forever. Immediately following the attacks, the United States government passed the USA PATRIOT Act, broadening definitions of terrorism and codifying unconstitutional acts, such as unwarranted searches of private property, indefinite holding of suspected terrorists, and ultimately torturing those suspects. This act has had several long term implications leading to a reduction in the quality of American democracy, which subsequently affected other liberal democracies around the world through violations of basic democratic principles, or civil liberties, such as: due process, physical attacks, and freedom …

Coin Recovery Ii, Carly Lofthouse

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

Western Metals Recycling (WMR), a subsidiary of NUCOR Steel, is a metals recycling company with a location in Plymouth, Utah. At Plymouth, a 50 NT/hr. non-ferrous recovery plant uses eddy current technology to generate a non-ferrous product called zorba. Zorba is a mix of aluminum, copper, brass, zinc, printed circuit boards, coins, lead, and the like. (Figure 1) The market value of zorba varies but generally ranges from $0.30 to $0.50 per pound. The value of the coins (not including pennies) is much higher than zorba price. The team's objective is to upgrade and optimize the existing trommel equipment to …

Watering The Landscape: Make It Easier With Evapotranspiration (Et), Candace Schaible, Kelly Kopp, Helen Muntz

Irrigation, Water Use and Drought

No abstract provided.

Inclusion Of Classified Staff In The Implementation Of Positive Behavior Interventions And Supports: A District Case Study., Devon M. Roberts

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This qualitative case study examined the current use of Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports (PBIS) within a large school district and how that district includes classified staff within the implementation process. This study utilized information from interviews and focus groups of district leaders, school leaders, and classified staff to evaluate their perspectives on the daily use of PBIS, specifically how classified staff are included in all aspects of the initiative. Using the Normalization Process Theory (NPT) as a theoretical framework, this study sought to make sense of how complex organizational initiatives are intertwined and become embedded into the normal practices …

Analyzing Human Resource Competency Development Through The Lens Of Adult Learning Theory: A Qualitative Case Study On Change Management Competency In A Global U.S.-Based Firm., Angela K. Jorgensen

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

HR as a profession has sought to be more strategic in order to address the increasing complexities of the business world, but many find that, in general, it is not happening in practice. Academic research has sought to define a set of competencies to guide the work and development of HR professionals; specifically, managing organizational change is one of the recommended core competencies. The extant literature suggests that there is a gap in the formal learning higher education offerings for HR professionals to be able to develop the set of knowledge, skills, and abilities required to be proficient in organizational …

Capacity Building: A Study Of Career Academies And Student Career Self-Efficacy., Shawn Timothy Hinds Jr

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The phrase “College and Career Readiness” echoes throughout the halls of schools and districts across the United States. Politicians pass legislation aimed at ensuring the readiness of every student graduating from high school. Despite these efforts, the United States is falling further behind in a global race for economic wellbeing and academic preparedness based on one of the most respected global measures of student achievement, the Programme for International Student Assessment (Murphy & Adams, 1998; Tucker, 2016). Even as the social fabric of the country changes and the number of Students of Color and students in poverty increase, there have …

Perceptions Of Executive Functions And Self-Care Actions In Major Depressive Disorder., Melanie G. Walters

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation encompasses a study of the effect of impaired executive functions on decision-making and self-care of depressive illness. The first chapter provides an introduction and summarizes the body of literature on the executive functions and its association with depressive symptoms. The second chapter contains the second of two systematic reviews which examines conceptualizations of executive functions, classical and current measures used to assess the executive functions, and challenges and limitations related to current methods of assessment. The third chapter describes the development of a vignette technique and its use in a study to examine the association of depressive symptoms …

Characterizing Water And Water-Related Energy Use In Multi-Unit Residential Structures With High Resolution Smart Metering Data, Joseph C. Brewer

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

As urban populations continue to grow and expand, localized demands on water supplies continue to increase as well. These water supplies, which have been historically stable, are also threatened by an increasingly erratic climate. Together, these two factors have significantly increased the likelihood of long-term drought conditions in the American West. In response, water suppliers are investigating new ways to record water use in urban areas to better understand how water is used. One of these methods is smart meters; advanced devices that can record and transmit water use information directly to the water supplier. However, these devices can produce …

Perceptions Of Consulting In Inclusive Preschool Classrooms, Natalie E. Forsythe

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Consulting is a method of delivering special education services in inclusive preschool classrooms (consisting of both students with disabilities and typically developing peers) where special education teachers and related service providers (consultants) visit the classroom and support general education preschool teachers (consultees) in implementing special education services and accommodations. This thesis examined the results of a survey gathering perspectives of both consultants and consultees on the definition of the consulting role and factors in building positive consulting relationships. Providers from both groups who responded to this survey defined the consultant role as working with both students and consultees, but primarily …

Classification And Prediction Models For Natural Streamflow Regimes In The Arid Southwestern Usa, Angela M. Merritt

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Understanding how natural variation in flow regimes influences stream ecosystem structure and function is critical to the development of effective stream management policies and actions. Spatial variation in flow regimes is well understood for stream reaches in mesic regions, but a more robust characterization of flow regimes in arid regions is needed, especially to support biological monitoring and assessment programs. Methods are specifically needed that can accurately predict the flow regime expected at ungauged reaches. We used long-term (41 y) records of mean daily flow from 287 stream reaches in the arid western USA to develop and compare several alternative …

Hardware Implementations Of Ccsds Deep Space Ldpc Codes For A Satellite Transponder, Dana R. Sorensen

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

Error-correction coding is a technique that adds mathematical structure to a message, allowing corruptions to be detected and corrected when the message is received. This is especially important for deep space satellite communications, since the long distances and low signal power levels often cause message corruption. A very strong type of error-correction coding known as LDPC codes was recently standardized for use with space communications. This project implements the encoding and decoding algorithms required for a small satellite radio to be able to use these LDPC codes. Several decoder architectures are implemented and compared by their performance, speed, and complexity. …

An Evaluation Of The Effects Of Behavioral Skills Training On A Mindfulness-Based Protocol, Chealsy Darby

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

This evaluation examined the effects of behavioral skills training on the correct implementation of a mindfulness-based protocol by direct support staff who provide services to adults with intellectual disabilities in a community, residential setting. Participants included two direct support staff who provide services to two different adults with intellectual disabilities who have a mindfulness-based protocol as an intervention for problem behavior described in their behavior support plan. The participants were exposed to a behavioral skills training package and were required to demonstrate mastery criteria of the mindfulness-based protocol as part of their regular job duties. The results of this evaluation …

Ensuring Protocol Compliance And Data Transparency In Clinical Trials Using Blockchain Smart Contracts, Ilhaam A. Omar, Raja Jayaraman, Khaled Salah, Mecit Can Emre Simsekler, Ibrar Yaqoob, Samer Ellahham

Industrial Engineering: Faculty & Staff Publications

Background Clinical Trials (CTs) help in testing and validating the safety and efficacy of newly discovered drugs on specific patient population cohorts. However, these trials usually experience many challenges, such as extensive time frames, high financial cost, regulatory and administrative barriers, and insufficient workforce. In addition, CTs face several data management challenges pertaining to protocol compliance, patient enrollment, transparency, traceability, data integrity, and selective reporting. Blockchain can potentially address such challenges because of its intrinsic features and properties. Although existing literature broadly discusses the applicability of blockchain-based solutions for CTs, only a few studies present their working proof-of-concept. Methods We …

Current And Projected Water Reuse For Irrigation In Utah, R. Ryan Dupont, Joan E. Mclean, Randal S. Martin, Courtney Flint, L. Niel Allen, Jennifer L. Weidhaas

Reports

Reuse of treated wastewater for irrigation in some cases can help meet increasing agriculture and urban water demands in Utah. The last report describing existing and potential reuse efforts in Utah was in 2005 (Utah Division of Water Resources, 2005). This report provides information on existing and proposed water reuse and perceptions among water providers and users regarding the use of reclaimed wastewater. Wastewater reuse is one of many practices to conserve water and improve water quality. In a broad sense, water reuse occurs by downstream users, but in some cases, deliberate strategic reuse of water is undertaken to provide …