Digital Commons Network^™

President’S Message, Holly Garrod

North American Bird Bander

No abstract provided.

Rocky Point Bird Observatory, Jannaca Chick, Ann Nightingale

North American Bird Bander

No abstract provided.

Baby Boomers In Technology-Rich Environments: Using Piaac To Study The Association Of Workplace Learning With Technology Competency, Julie M. Galliart

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

A skill gap in Problem Solving in Technology-Rich Environments (PS-TRE) between U.S. Baby Boomers and younger generations has been documented in previous studies using the Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC) Survey of Adult Skills (Rampey et al., 2016). Bringing this generation of workers up to speed in this competency area is important because older workers are a growing segment of the U.S. workforce with 13 million employees expected to be age 65 or older by 2024 (Toossi & Torpey, 2017). Workplace learning may be a solution, but few studies in adult learning document outcomes of training …

The Use Of Social Media In English Teaching And Learning: Exploring The Perceptions And Experiences Of English As A Foreign Language Instructors, Waheeb Shadid Albiladi

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The attention on using social media for educational purposes is increasing. Research shows that social media platforms are effective teaching and learning tools. The purpose of this study was to examine foreign language teachers’ experiences in using social media in the teaching and learning of English. Research Design: A qualitative research method was used for the data collection and analysis. Data were collected through a survey and in-depth interviews with foreign language teachers. The participants included 35 English teachers (15 for the interview, 35 for the survey) representing different educational levels, including public and private schools and foreign language institutions. …

Argumentation Stance Polarity And Intensity Prediction And Its Application For Argumentation Polarization Modeling And Diverse Social Connection Recommendation, Joseph Winstead Sirrianni

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Cyber argumentation platforms implement theoretical argumentation structures that promote higher quality argumentation and allow for informative analysis of the discussions. Dr. Liu’s research group has designed and implemented a unique platform called the Intelligent Cyber Argumentation System (ICAS). ICAS structures its discussions into a weighted cyber argumentation graph, which describes the relationships between the different users, their posts in a discussion, the discussion topic, and the various subtopics in a discussion. This platform is unique as it encodes online discussions into weighted cyber argumentation graphs based on the user’s stances toward one another’s arguments and ideas. The resulting weighted cyber …

Investigating The Potential Of Microbial Metabolites And Mtor Signaling On Chicken Necrotic Enteritis, Mohit Bansal

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Necrotic enteritis (NE), caused by C. perfringens and coccidiosis, is responsible for substantial economic loss annually. In the first chapter, we investigated the effect of secondary bile acid on necrotic enteritis. Day-old broiler chicks were randomly assigned to 5 groups of diets supplemented with 0 (basal diet), 0.8, 1.0, and 1.5 g/kg (on top of basal diet) deoxycholic acid (DCA). The birds were challenged with Eimeria maxima (20,000 oocysts/bird) at d 18 and C. perfringens (109CFU/bird/day) at d 23 and d 24 to induce NE. Birds were sacrificed at d 26, and ileal tissue and digesta samples were collected. DCA …

The Surveillance Of Gastrointestinal Parasitic Nematodes Of Northwest Arkansas Dairy Cattle Using Traditional And Genetic Parasitological Identification Procedures, Eva M. Wray

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Traditional and genetic parasitological identification procedures were compared using naturaland artificial nematode parasite infections in Holstein steer calves. The traditional parasitological procedures measured fecal egg counts, coprocultures with subsequent larval collection and adult nematodes collected at necropsy. The genetic identification procedures measured ITS-2 sequences extracted from different stages of nematode development: raw feces, concentrated nematode eggs, third stage larvae and adults. The primary nematodes observed were Cooperia oncophora, Cooperia punctata and Ostertagia ostertagi. The traditional techniques were not significantly different from one another, while the genetic sequencing showed variation amongst the different procedures. The raw feces sequences showed the most …

The Effects Of Solution Condition On Virus Filtration Performance, Fnu Namila

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Virus filtration is an integral part of the downstream purification of mammalian cell culture-derived biotherapeutics to assure the viral safety of the products. Virus filtration membranes remove viruses based on a size-exclusion mechanism. Commercial parvovirus filers possess unique membrane structure and are designed to remove smaller non-enveloped parvoviruses with size 18-26 nm. However, some filters face issues, such as pre-mature fouling, the decline of filtrate flux, and reduction in virus retention. This doctoral dissertation focused on identifying the factors that influence the filtrate flux and the virus retention capability of commercial virus filters. The effects of solution pH and ionic …

Purchased, Becky Retz

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

A play in two acts, Purchased tells the story of Francois DeLord and his journey from being a French Creole of New Orleans to becoming a Black man in America. In 1803, Napoleon sold France’s North American holdings to the United States in what became known as the Louisiana Purchase. Americans flooded into the city, bringing with them boatloads of money and a social philosophy that clashed with long-held local traditions. The sale doubled the size of the young nation, and ignited a culture war in New Orleans,

Phishprint: A Novel Framework For Scalable Evaluation Of Web Security Crawlers And Mining Of Unknown Cloaking Vectors, Bhupendra Acharya

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

We built a novel scalable, low-cost, and generic platform named PhishPrint to enable the evaluation of Web Security Crawlers (WSCs) against previously unknown cloaking weaknesses. PhishPrint completely avoids the use of any simulated phishing sites and blocklisting measurements. We used PhishPrint to evaluate an unprecedented number of WSCs (23) including highly ubiquitous services such as Google Safe Browsing and Microsoft Outlook e-mail scanners. Our 70-day study found several unknown cloaking weaknesses with which we constructed 5 effective cloaking attack vectors (including 4 novel ones). In particular, it was shown that the entire WSC ecosystem is extremely vulnerable to a novel …

Analysis Of Mothers’ Parenting Consistency: Associations With Children’S Adjustment, David R L Brabham

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

While robust literature exists on the association between positive and negative parenting with child outcomes, less is known about the nature of parenting’s consistency in this relationship. This study sought to examine the relationship between valence and consistency of parenting, and to determine whether consistency is associated with child adjustment independent of valence. Data were collected from 167 mothers and their toddler-aged child. Participation involved two time points, 1 year apart. At each time point, mothers’ observational data were obtained via videotape of designed interactions between mother and toddler, as well as survey data from mothers. Bivariate correlations and multiple …

Design And Synthesis Of Novel No-Drug Hybrid Compound And Green Catalytic Activity Evaluation Of Synthesized Silver Nanoparticles-Halloysite Nanocomposite, Majed Abdullah Bajaber

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Acetaminophen is a well-known analgesic that can manage pain and reduce fever. SCP-1 is a derivative of acetaminophen that showed significantly reduced hepatotoxicity and nephrotoxicity comparative to acetaminophen. Nitric oxides have been well known to play a key role in a wide variety of physiological and pathophysiological important processes. It was therefore of interest to synthesize a nitric oxide donor linked to SCP-1 that could have enhanced analgesic and antipyretic activity. A furoxan CAS 1609 as NO-donor was synthesized and linked to SCP-1 successfully. The furoxan CAS 1609 was initially synthesized from tetronic acid to give 1,2- dioxime in 86 …

A Phenomenological Study Of Emotion Amid Significant Organizational Change, Ian Menchini

All Theses And Dissertations

This study employed a phenomenological methodology to explore the experiences shared by leaders of a public university in the Northeast United States during an extraordinary period of organizational change. The university’s organizational transformation was particularly noteworthy because it came in the face of circumstances entirely out of the university’s control. These circumstances included its state’s declining population as well as its state government’s failure to invest heavily in higher education. These long-term challenges were exacerbated by the sudden onset of the Covid-19 pandemic and a near simultaneous proposal by its system’s former executive to radically and negatively change the university’s …

“9/11 And The Collapse Of The American Dream: Imbolo Mbue’S Behold The Dreamers”, Elizabeth Toohey

Publications and Research

Behold the Dreamers follows a Cameroonian couple who, as newcomers to America, harbor dreams of success unavailable to them back home. Undocumented immigration, the widening gulf between rich and poor, and the thinly veiled racism of an avowedly "post-racial" culture converge in this new generation of immigrants' painful encounter with the American dream. I consider the ways Mbue's novel shares themes with a "second wave" of post- 9/11 literature—first, in centering the disillusionment of a protagonist aspiring to the American dream; next, in its representation of New York as a space haunted by 9/11, but also of resistance to the …

Impact Of Covid-19 On Missouri 4-H State Fair Participation And Implications For Youth Development Programs, Maria L. Calvert, Maria G. Fabregas Janeiro

Journal of Extension

For University of Missouri Extension, facilitation of Missouri 4-H's participation in the Missouri State Fair (MSF) during the COVID-19 era was a challenge and an opportunity for improvement. In a time when positive youth development experiences are more necessary than ever, Extension professionals must consider how to uphold the foundations of positive youth development and maintain a sense of program normalcy while ensuring new levels of safety and security. We describe lessons learned before, during, and after Missouri 4-H made the decision to open the MSF 4-H building in the midst of the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic and issue a call …

Assessing And Responding To Covid-19 Pandemic Nutrition And Wellness Impacts On Iowans, Morgan Bahl, Sarah L. Francis, Ruth Litchfield, Shannon Coleman, Anirudh Naig

Journal of Extension

The COVID-19 pandemic has increased the need for indirect Extension programming. To ensure a consumer-focused response, we gathered data from 452 survey respondents regarding how the pandemic was affecting their food-related and health behaviors. The majority reported obtaining their food from a grocery store as they had prior to the pandemic, albeit less frequently, and having increased their home food preparation. Due to the pandemic, respondents were less physically active and more stressed and were seeking reliable nutrition and wellness information. We describe how we were able to facilitate an immediate response by repackaging and adapting existing programming to meet …

Comparing Linkages Between Descriptive Norms And Current And Intended Outdoor Water Conservation, Laura A. Warner, Savanna Turner, Lisa Lundy

Journal of Extension

The study presented here was used for evaluating how theory of planned behavior variables (attitude, perceived behavioral control, subjective norms) and perceptions of others' outdoor water conservation (descriptive norms) related to individuals' own conservation and intent to conserve. The theory of planned behavior predicted current and intended conservation similarly. Descriptive norms from close-peer and state referent groups improved predictions of current practices but not behavioral intentions. Descriptive norms may be more influential when Extension clients are establishing routines pertaining to outdoor water conservation (e.g., installing a new landscape). Extension professionals should strategically communicate a conservation norm at similar opportune times.

Social Media Use For Farmers Market Communications In Illinois, Dandan Tao, Taylor Kathryne Ruth, Janie Maxwell, Hao Feng

Journal of Extension

Social media has been recognized as a powerful tool supporting communication of many topics in the agriculture industry. We explored the use of social media platforms among farmers market managers and specialty crop growers in Illinois through an online survey. Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter were platforms used by the majority of respondents. We found that social media was used primarily for communicating with consumers for marketing purposes. We identified major training needs of farmers market stakeholders related to using social media to promote business and convey food safety information.

4-H International Camp United Program And The 2025 4-H Strategic Vision, Alayne Torretta, Matthew Newman, Sharon Kinsey

Journal of Extension

Building on existing relationships with international youth development colleagues, we created the 4-H International Camp United Program (4-HICUP) as a leadership opportunity for international and U.S. teens. In 2019, teenagers from Azerbaijan, Italy, Russia, and the United States came together to build personal cross-cultural relationships, further develop leadership skills, and increase understanding of their role as global citizens. The program was inspired by the National Institute of Food and Agriculture 2025 Strategic Vision for 4-H suggesting that "youth and adults learn, grow, and work together as catalysts for positive change." With the success of 4-HICUP, we want to include more …

Otolith Age Validation And Microchemical Investigation Of The Northern Stock F Atlantic Black Sea Bass (Centropristis Striata), Elise R. Koob

Graduate Masters Theses

Black sea bass (Centropristis striata) is a demersal marine species that supports extensive commercial and recreational fisheries along the Atlantic coast. A recent expansion into the Gulf of Maine raises questions about this species’ movement and population dynamics in the region. Additionally, the 2016 catch-at-age stock assessment model for the northern stock incorporated a population split at the Hudson Canyon. Though this model better accounts for differences in populations, several issues remain. First, validation of the otolith ageing technique for this stock is incomplete; and, second, the origin of fish that moved into the northern ranges of the Gulf of …

Environmental Effects Of Coronavirus Pandemic: Analysis And Prediction Of Global Air Pollution Levels, Nouf Saif Alhmoudi

Theses

The Covid-19 pandemic started last semester when I was starting on my proposal. At that time, the pandemic lockdowns were at their peak levels with strict restrictions against movements. This was the case in most countries across the world. The effect this had on the air pollution was immediately felt. There were negligible amount of flights and road traffic had also significantly reduced. This led to an amazing clearing of the skies of pollution. For the first time in years, the Himalayan mountains could be seen, and many cities saw their smog and blanket of air pollution disappear. At that …

Smart Grid Program For Large Firms, Masood Alolama

Theses

A smart grid can help utilities conserve energy, cut costs, increase reliability and accountability, and increase efficiency in processes. Nevertheless, the growing use of IT-based electrical power systems increases the vulnerabilities of cyber security causes which increases the importance of cyber security in interconnected power grids. Utilities should understand protection of the smart grid, including vulnerable areas, strategic issues, layered security. However, there is a lack of awareness over the country since the inhabitants less informed about its importance in our life to transform into a smart grid and being part of this plan. Knowing that the government started already …

Dying Alone And Lonely Dying: Media Discourse And Pandemic Conditions, Holly Nelson-Becker, Christina Victor

Social Work: School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Other Works

Background and objectives: This paper explores current concerns and practice related to older people dying alone in Intensive Care Units, care homes, and at home through media discussions during the Covid-19 pandemic and before. It addresses the historically-situated concept of a good death and a bad death and suggests why dying alone, whether completely alone or without significant others physically present, may be considered a bad death.

Methods: As evidence for collective fears about dying alone, we explored the treatment of these deaths in media using headline examples from the US New York Times and the English Guardian newspaper from …

An Evaluation Of The Trauma-Informed Approach Implemented At A Title I Elementary School, Aleli Vazquez

Dissertations

An Evaluation of the Trauma-Informed Approach Implemented at a Title I Elementary School assesses the merits of the implementation of an intervention to support the social emotional ability and stability of students within elementary schools; called the Trauma Informed Approach. Many children attending elementary schools bring diverse and complex experiences to the classroom setting. Students with multiple adverse childhood experiences attend the educational system. Many students have a more difficult time concentrating and succeeding due to anxiety and lack of physiological needs being met. These needs must be met to secure positive learning gains for these students.

For data gathering …

Cuban Immigrants’ Experience With Acculturation And How They Cope In The United States, Lourdes Araujo

Dissertations

Objective: This research examines how Cuban immigrants experience cope and adapt to the United States. Cuban immigration is associated with specific stressors related to the immigration experience and the necessary process of acculturation and assimilation. These major stressors can result in mental health concerns among Cuban immigrants; however, no studies have examined how acculturation may influence Cuban immigrants’ coping skills and resultant mental health concerns. This unique study is the first to examine the coping skills Cuban immigrants use during acculturation and the effects of these skills on Cuban immigrants’ mental health. Methods: Seventeen participants completed a semistructured interview and …

Trust In Leadership To Develop Collaborative School Culture And Effective Implementation Of Professional Learning Communities, Kara Mieszanek

Dissertations

DISSERTATION: TRUST IN LEADERSHIP TO DEVELOP COLLABORATIVE SCHOOL CULTURE AND EFFECTIVE IMPLEMENTATION OF PROFESSIONAL LEARNING COMMUNITIES

Kara N. Mieszanek National Louis University

ABSTRACT

In education, we are constantly working toward increasing student achievement. Often, we pursue technical elements such as implementing programs, data analysis, utilizing assessment tools, embedding evaluation systems, etc. However, there is another critical element that may all too often get overlooked—the culture. The purpose of this study was to strip away all the layers required to achieve systemic change by observing what is at the core of it all: trust. Through qualitative and quantitative research, I took …

African American Women Attaining And Maintaining The Position Of Superintendent, Twyla Harris

Dissertations

ABSTRACT

There is an underrepresentation of African American women in the position of school district superintendent. The purpose of this research was to uncover the barriers and challenges African American women face both as aspiring and sitting superintendents. To gain a lived experience perspective on the problem, five African American women superintendents were interviewed. The primary research question was: How have African American female superintendents attained and successfully held the superintendent position? Using narrative inquiry, interviews were recorded, transcribed, and coded for the discovery of common themes. Findings include the value of networking for mentoring and support, accepting and bearing …

Proactive Exploration Of Fire Incidents Using The Integration Of Direct Alarm System And Cctv System, Abdullah Ahmed Abdi

Theses

By 2050, the population of urban cities will have increased by millions of people. Statistics by the UN Department's population division of economic and social affairs (United Nations, 2018) indicate that today, at least 55% of the world's population live in urban centers. Further, the UN department forecasts that by 2050, at least 68% of the world's population will be living in urban areas. This means that more than 2.5 billion people will relocate from rural areas to urban areas. According to the International Association of Fire Service Trainers and FDNY and Standard operating procedures, the fire is the most …

Conservation Conversations Webinar Summary - Conservation And Outdoor Recreation: Challenges And Solutions To Keeping Our Parks And Public Lands From Being Loved To Death, Jordan W. Smith

All Current Publications

Americans love their public lands. They have turned to them to connect with their families, to maintain an active lifestyle, and to escape 24-hour news cycles that seem to bring nothing but bad news. The recreational use that our public lands receive is not a new trend however. Over the past 10-years, visitation to all types National Park Service units (e.g., parks, monuments, historic sites, etc.) has increased by 16%, with national parks alone seeing a 28% increase in visitation. Visitation to many national parks reaches record levels every year. At the same time, the ecosystems of our parks and …

Adoption Of Bonded-Cellular Technology, Gregory Edward Phipps

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study analyzed four determinant factors attributed to the acceptance of Bonded Cellular (BC) technology and applies the tenants of Diffusion of Innovation and Technology Acceptance Models. BC “bonds” available cellular channels and transmits a multiplexed signal to a broadcaster. This study will advance the understanding of factors that may impact the acceptance of BC at the management level. Research Questions 1. Can behavioral intention (BI) to adopt BC tools be predicted by using an independent variable representing Perceived Ease-Of-Use (PEOU)? 2. Can behavioral intention (BI) to adopt BC tools be predicted by using an independent variable representing Perceived Usefulness …