Digital Commons Network^™

The Role Of Religion In Rape Acknowledgement And Disclosure, Danielle Marie Piggott

Theses and Dissertations

Previous research has demonstrated the dramatic effect trauma can have on religiosity. This study sought to extend this understanding by examining how rape influences religious beliefs and behaviors as well as how religiosity influences acknowledgement and disclosure of rape. The overwhelming majority of the United States population is religious, and religiosity has been associated with several important health indicators, yet very little research has examined the connection between religiosity and specific rape recovery outcomes. A sample of 310 college-aged women completed an online survey with questionnaires about personal religiosity, the religiosity of their surrounding support system, and their sexual history. …

Computational Studies Of Metal-Substituted Systems And Development Of Machine Learning Within Gvvpt2, Minh Duong Popis

Theses and Dissertations

Computational electronic structure theory has become an inexorable engine for understanding and even predicting the properties of novel molecules and materials. In this dissertation, two types of novel metal-containing systems, one a material and one a molecule, were examined using ab initio methods. In addition, progress on using machine learning (ML) to systematize the selection of qualitatively correct descriptions of molecular systems were examined.The ever-increasing demand for smaller, faster, and cheaper electronics has fueled the ongoing search for new materials. Silicene, a two-dimensional (2D) monolayer of silicon (Si) atoms arranging in a honeycomb lattice, has attracted much attention because of …

Betelgeuse, A Parameter Study Using Mesa, Cedric Ramesh

Theses and Dissertations

The star α Orionis (Betelgeuse) has enjoyed increased fame and scrutiny over the past two years, largely due to a mysterious dimming event that began in November 2019. Betelgeuse’s relatively close distance combined with its somewhat substantial angular diameter allows for direct imaging of its surface (as performed by the Hubble Space Telescope, 1996) along with a host of other detailed observations. These observations grant an excellent baseline upon which to conduct a parameter study using MESA (Modules for Experiments in Stellar Astrophysics), a 1D software stellar evolution code.Even though one-dimensional stellar evolution is a mature discipline, we continue to …

Fulfilling The Purpose Of Education: Voices Of North Dakota Graduates Pertaining To Curriculum And Graduation Requirements, Sarah Jean Ricks

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this dissertation was twofold: to determine how graduates of North Dakota high schools perceived their educational experiences in relation to preparing them for their adult lives, and to determine how curriculum and graduation requirements at the time of this study in North Dakota Century Code (NDCC) 15.1-21, titled “Curriculum and Testing,” fulfilled the purpose of education in North Dakota. This study used a mixed-methods research design and includes a literature review and an online survey of 81 North Dakota high school graduates in the Dickinson area regarding the readiness of students who have graduated from North Dakota …

Developing Computer Aided Algorithms For Automatic Assessment Of Psoriasis Disease Severity Using Digital Images, Intisar Rizwan I Haque

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of the research work was to develop image processing algorithms for automatic and objective assessment of psoriasis to aid in more effective management and treatment of patient symptoms. For this purpose, multiple classical machine learning-based unsupervised approaches are proposed which achieve a maximum average accuracy of ~94% on a dataset of 45 images of various resolutions. This accuracy improves performance by 14% in comparison to existing approaches reported in the literature on the same dataset of images. An alternative deep learning neural network-based approach was proposed that achieves an average accuracy of ~87% for the same set of …

Evaluation Of The Performance Of A Rosemount Icing Detector During Impacts 2020, Greg Lee Sova

Theses and Dissertations

The Rosemount Icing Detector (RICE Probe) is a vibrating cylinder icing probe that measures the supercooled liquid water in the atmosphere that contributes to aircraft icing conditions. The frequency of the RICE Probe vibration decreases with increasing ice accretion. The RICE Probe was mounted on the fuselage of the NASA P-3 Orion aircraft for the IMPACTS 2020 field campaign. During the project, flight scientists had real-time frequency data for qualitative assessment of the presence of supercooled liquid water. For quantitative measurements of the liquid water, flight scientists used the King Liquid Water Sensor (King Probe) and the Cloud Droplet Probe …

Virtual Reality: Prospective Catalyst For Restorative Justice, Kate Bloch

Faculty Scholarship

A 2018 U.S. Department of Justice report assessing data from thirty states found that eighty-three percent of those individuals released from state prisons in 2005 were rearrested within nine years.** When a revolving door ushers five of six individuals back into custody and decimates communities, more effective approaches to criminal justice demand attention. In countries around the world, restorative justice has been emerging as a promising candidate. It generally involves an interactive process in which stakeholders identify and grapple with harms caused by the crime. But many environments lack the resources to invoke its benefits. While restorative justice takes various …

Lettuce (Lactuca Sativa) Productivity Influenced By Microbial Inocula Under Nitrogen-Limited Conditions In Aquaponics., Jessica A Day, Christian Diener, Anne E Otwell, Kourtney E Tams, Brad Bebout, Angela M Detweiler, Michael D Lee, Madeline T Scott, Wilson Ta, Monica Ha, Shienna A Carreon, Kenny Tong, Abdirizak A Ali, Sean M Gibbons, Nitin S Baliga

Articles, Abstracts, and Reports

The demand for food will outpace productivity of conventional agriculture due to projected growth of the human population, concomitant with shrinkage of arable land, increasing scarcity of freshwater, and a rapidly changing climate. While aquaponics has potential to sustainably supplement food production with minimal environmental impact, there is a need to better characterize the complex interplay between the various components (fish, plant, microbiome) of these systems to optimize scale up and productivity. Here, we investigated how the commonly-implemented practice of continued microbial community transfer from pre-existing systems might promote or impede productivity of aquaponics. Specifically, we monitored plant growth phenotypes, …

The Coaches’ Eye: Exploring Coach Decision-Making During Talent Identification, Alexandra Hannah Roberts

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

For decades, researchers and practitioners interested in talent identification have discussed the coaches’ eye: the elusive ability that allows some coaches to ‘see’ qualities in an athlete that point to their talent or future potential. While there is significant anecdotal evidence of coaches who possess this ability, there is little empirical research supporting the validity or reliability of the coaches’ eye. Guided by ecological dynamics, this thesis employs mixed methodologies to explore the decision-making that underpins how high-level coaches identify talent in Olympic combat sports. These four studies captured the processes of thirty- four coaches during the talent identification process, …

An Investigation Into The Efficacy Of Url Content Filtering Systems, Brett Ronald Turner

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Content filters are used to restrict to restrict minors from accessing to online content deemed inappropriate. While much research and evaluation has been done on the efficiency of content filters, there is little in the way of empirical research as to their efficacy. The accessing of inappropriate material by minors, and the role content filtering systems can play in preventing the accessing of inappropriate material, is largely assumed with little or no evidence. This thesis investigates if a content filter implemented with the stated aim of restricting specific Internet content from high school students achieved the goal of stopping students …

Applications Of Béla Bartók's Techniques Of Pitch Organisation To Jazz Improvisation, Niran Jay Dasika

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

The music of Hungarian composer Béla Bartók (1881-1945) reconciles hauntingly lyrical beauty with harsh, atonal dissonance, appealing to music fans, musicians, and theorists alike for over a century and suggesting a rich resource of inspiration for improvising musicians. The composer Pierre Boulez commented that “Whether it is in a brutal violence animating a sound material in fusion, or in a tranquil gentleness glowing in a halo of grating sounds and colours… Bartók is incomparable and remains unique”. Informed by Bartók theorists Elliott Antokoletz, János Kárpáti, Erno Lendvai, and by Bartók’s own writings, this research identifies four melodic techniques: ‘mistuning’, ‘chromatic …

Siblings Of People With Intellectual Disability: Relationships And Decision-Making Across The Life Span, Wendy Simpson

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

A growing amount of research focuses on siblings of children with disabilities. However, limited evidence exists to provide a solid understanding and depth of knowledge of the issues that affect adult sibling relationships when one has intellectual disability. Since sibling relationships are the longest lasting family relationship, they are becoming more important because people with disability are outliving their parents or main caregivers. The increased longevity of people with disability has a societal and economic impact that has been recognised in the context of the recently introduced National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) in Australia. By exploring the experiences of siblings …

Towards An Evidence-Informed Differentiated Learning Consolidation Process To Support Classroom Instruction, Nicola Carr-White

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Despite many years of teaching experience, the differentiation and consolidation of classroom learning presented challenges for the researcher. In response, a Differentiated Learning Consolidation Process (DLCP) was developed through informal classroom-based action research over several years. Using low cost and accessible resources, it developed into a manageable supplementary intervention to support individual student needs and the retention of classroom instruction. Increasing interest from colleagues led the researcher to provide professional development on the instructional design and implementation of the DLCP. Through this experience, it became apparent that the DLCP theoretical assumptions were largely unknown. The current study was pursued to …

Tasteful Piano Performance In Classic-Era Britain, James Huntingford

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

In recent decades, British solo piano repertoire of the Classic era has attracted increasing interest from researchers. A number of scholars have sought to identify the compositional elements that comprise late eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century British piano music. Despite this interest, there has been little research into the conventions of performance with which this repertoire is inextricably associated. Moreover, scant attention has been given to the notions of taste that are so often encountered in contemporaneous music treatises and philosophical writings. This thesis addresses these gaps in the existing literature by examining tasteful piano performance in late eighteenth- and early …

Identity: A Crisis Of Confidence? Or Is It Resemblance? An Exploration Of The Different Approaches By Which Eyewitness Evidence Can Be Obtained From Lineups, Dominic T. Jordan

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Research has shown that eyewitness identification decisions are fallible and often mistaken. Although considerable attention has been afforded to identification decision accuracy and its improvement, mistaken identification decisions continue to contribute to costly errors at the evidentiary stage of the criminal justice system process (i.e., wrongful convictions). Several prominent researchers have suggested, by way of explanation, that the existing framework for obtaining eyewitness evidence from lineups, namely, identification, is inadequate. Indeed, the assumption that witnesses when presented with a lineup, can make reliable identification decisions (i.e., can reliably determine that a lineup member is the same unfamiliar person seen previously …

Creative Constraints: Developing A Method For Restrictive Jazz Composition, Harry Mitchell

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

This research aimed to develop a method of jazz composition that utilises data-based restrictions to facilitate the composition process. An analysis rating tool (ART) was developed based on methodologies created by Aaron Stroessner and Jan LaRue to extract elements of melody, harmony, rhythm and form from compositions on Seamus Blake’s album Bellwether and Will Vinson’s album Stockholm Syndrome. The ART then facilitated a practice-led composition process in which the data from the analysis were used as the primary source of creativity to generate and record a set of 10 compositions. Through an iterative process of composing with and refining the …

Does Accurate Data, Identifying Obese Patients Impact Nurse Safety And Hospital Finances?, Kim Mcclean

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Healthcare staff who manage obese patients are at increased risk of sustaining patient handling injuries, and this risk is anticipated to intensify as projected Australian obesity rates increase to 42% by the year 2035 and obese patients admitted to hospitals also increase. High cost burdens to healthcare organisations will result due to increased funding requirements for bariatric risk management solutions and growing costs of workers’ compensation claims of injured staff. Five (5) studies explored if identification of obese patients impacts the safety of nurses and other healthcare staff who manage obese patients and investigated the accuracy of obesity data recorded …

Bully Me: A Graphic Novel; The Return: A Graphic Novel; Comakademix: A Comics Anthology; Leadbetter: A Comic; Laundry: A Minicomic -And- The Erotics Of Comics: An Exegesis, Bruce Roberts Mutard

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Beholding a comic is ideally, a pleasure. The work informs, entertains and stimulates the mind in some way. There is no gainsaying which works will affect which beholders howsoever it does, yet the expecta­tion of pleasure from a work of comics makes behold­ers seek it. Making the comic is also a pleasure, even if the process can be long-winded, winding and dif­ficult. The maker wants to give others the same plea­sure they drew from beholding comics, but in their way, making their vision of Batman, Lieutenant Blue­berry or, their own story worlds. What this research seeks to explain are many …

Escape Velocity Walks The City: Kindness And Intimacy In Public Space In The Transgender And Gender Diverse Teen Experience, Renée Newman

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Escape Velocity Walks the City took place 23rd-26th October 2019 as part of the Future Echoes Festival in Melbourne, Australia. Created by Rosana Cade with Ivor MacAskill, Laurie Brown and St Martins Youth Theatre, audience and performer walk and talk together through the inner city of Melbourne. Walking and sitting, hand in hand with transgender and gender non-conforming teens, the performance was often silent, uneasy and yet, kind. Simultaneously fragile and powerful the work provoked a gentle expectation to open our hearts and minds. From the surreal zone of isolation (mid COVID-19 pandemic) this paper is a memory of a …

Making Immigration Law Respond To The Needs Of Building U.S. Leadership In Artificial Intelligence, Richad A. Boswell, Aditya Mohan

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Evolution Or Revolution In Telehealth Regulation, George Horvath

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Development Of Image Processing Techniques For Core-Scale Characterization And Synthetic 3d-Printed Core Replicas, Ahmed Galal Alqassaby Almetwally

Theses and Dissertations

Fluid-flow physics in porous media has been continually simplified by assuming isotropic homogeneous media with minimal rock-fluid interactions. Such simplification did not reflect reality and retained the ability to understand the flow behavior essence in unconventional reservoirs. The developed physics should be reevaluated on ideal porous media, indeed, which has minimal geometrical and interaction uncertainties. Therefore, image processing techniques were utilized to processs the CT scans of core samples to construct ideal 3D-printed replicas for coreflooding experiments and simulation models. The results from both were then compared for vcalidation and cross check. Methods, Procedures, Process: Grayscale CT-scan of a Berea …

Systemic Veterinary Parasitcides For Residual Malaria Vector Control In Central America, Staci Michele Dreyer

Theses and Dissertations

Malaria continues to be one of the most severe public health concerns worldwide. The malaria parasite, Plasmodium, is transmitted from person to person through the mosquito vector Anopheles. Vector control is a crucial element of anti-malarial campaigns and works best when there is thorough knowledge about an Anopheles vector’s biology and behavior in a given region. To fully eradicate malaria, new vector control strategies must be developed that exploit the behaviors of different vector species. One promising strategy to target vectors that primarily bite outdoors and display generalist feeding behaviors (zoophagic) is the use of veterinary systemic parasiticides. Veterinary parasiticides …

Modulation Of The Hyperfine Coupling In A Tbpc2 Single-Molecule Magnet With Electric Fields, David Fehr

Theses and Dissertations

In theory, a quantum computer can do everything a classical computer can do, and more. This is possible because of the principal difference between their respective fundamental units of computation. Classical computers use bits that can take on values of 0 or 1, but quantum computers use quantum bits, called qubits, that can take on values of 0, 1, or any combination of 0 and 1 by exploiting the rules of quantum mechanics. However, this quantum nature is extremely fragile and therefore it is imperative that qubits are protected from their environment. Conversely, qubits cannot be so isolated that their …

Impacts Of Vertical Grid Resolution On The Representation Of A Convective Environment, Caitlyn Mensch

Theses and Dissertations

In a pre-convective environment, modeled atmospheric conditions can be presented as discrete parameters, which serve as valuable resources both in forecasting potential severe weather events and also in assessing changes in convective potential over time. However, the value of these parameters may depend on the vertical resolution of the simulation that is used to do the calculation. Upper-air radiosonde sounding data from various research campaigns (e.g., PECAN, DC3, TRMM-LBA, etc.) in both midlatitude and tropical convective regimes are analyzed and later interpolated to the pressure levels in a range of atmospheric reanalysis and operational models. Indices such as CAPE, CIN, …

Photometric And Astrometric Analysis Of Three Near-Earth Asteroids, Steven D. Newcomb

Theses and Dissertations

Asteroid astrometry can provide precise information on an object’s orbital position and motion, while lightcurve photometry can help determine its rotational spin rate, its shape, and the possible presence of a binary satellite object in orbit around it.

This thesis therefore reports the astrometric and photometric study of three near-Earth objects (NEOs): 68347 (2001 KB67), 494999 (2010 JU39), and 455432 (2003 RP8). Because NEOs represent a record of the early solar system, serve as possible sources for minable material, and sometimes present an impact hazard to the planet Earth, the study of these asteroids is important for understanding their orbital …

"The Last Major Front": Special Education's Transition To Adulthood And North Dakota, Matthew David Mccleary

Theses and Dissertations

The thesis examines the development and implementation of special education’s transition policy in the United States and North Dakota from the 1980s to the 1990s. Researchers have primarily sought to further evidence-based practices in preparing adolescents with disabilities for adulthood, but the history of this effort has rarely been discussed. In the late 20th century, policymakers, researchers, and educators attempted to turn around negative socio-economic outcomes for people with disabilities by helping youth with disabilities and their families plan for the future and get connected to post-school services and employment. Assumptions about people with disabilities influenced transition programming and the …

The Impact Of Social Anxiety On Co-Witness Suggestibility, Susan Schober

Theses and Dissertations

Misleading post-event information, especially presented through co-witness discussion, has consistently shown to be a powerful way to alter a witness’s memory for an event. Less is known about how misleading co-witness information affects those with specific individual difference traits, however. The current study analyzed the impact of social anxiety on susceptibility to co-witness misinformation and memory conformity (i.e., co-witness suggestibility). Participants viewed a short film of a simulated home robbery and some discussed the film with a confederate posing as a co-witness. During the discussion, the confederate introduced either accurate or misleading information about events in the film. After the …

Associations Between Fruit Intake And Risk Of Diabetes In The Ausdiab Cohort: Supplementary Material, Nicola P. Bondonno, Raymond J. Davey, Kevin Murray, Simone Radavelli-Bagatini, Catherine P. Bondonno, Lauren C. Blekkenhorst, Marc Sim, Dianna J. Magliano, Robin M. Daly, Jonathan E. Shaw, Joshua R. Lewis, Jonathan M. Hodgson

Research Datasets

Supplementary Material accompanying manuscript entitled ‘Associations between fruit intake and risk of diabetes in the AusDiab cohort’.

Risks To Healthcare Organizations And Staff Who Manage Obese (Bariatric) Patients And Use Of Obesity Data To Mitigate Risks: A Literature Review, Kim Mcclean, Martyn Cross, Sue Reed

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

This literature review explores obesity risks to healthcare staff and organizations that manage and caring for obese (bariatric) patients. These risks are anticipated to increase due to Australian population obesity rate projections increasing from 31% in 2018 to 42% by the year 2035, which will result in increased hospital admissions of patients with obesity. Literature searches were conducted through the Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL), MEDLINE, Scopus, and Web of Science. Thirty studies met the inclusion criteria and were tabulated and critiqued using appropriate appraisal techniques. High risk of injury to healthcare staff was identified relating …