Digital Commons Network^™

Exploring The Experiences Of One Team Of Teachers: Well-Being And Navigating The Demands Of The Education Profession, Abby Weiland

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

Much is changing in K-12 education contexts, including an emphasis on performativity and accountability (Au, 2016; Connell, 2009). Against this backdrop, teacher burnout and attrition have been the focus of numerous studies, including examination of organizational structures and factors contributing to burnout (Buckley et al., 2005; Konu et al., 2010). Insufficient attention has been given to how teachers are able to navigate the demands of this profession (Matteucci et al., 2017; Wilcox & Lawson, 2018). Efforts to retain teachers should not only emphasize factors associated with burnout or attrition, but also how they are affected by the systems in place, …

Enhancing Mixed Traffic Flow Safety Via Connected And Autonomous Vehicle Trajectory Planning With A Reinforcement Learning Approach, Yanqiu Cheng, Chenxi Chen, Xianbiao Hu, Kuanmin Chen, Qing Tang, Yang Song

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

The longitudinal trajectory planning of connected and autonomous vehicle (CAV) has been widely studied in the literature to reduce travel time or fuel consumptions. The safety impact of CAV trajectory planning to the mixed traffic flow with both CAV and human-driven vehicle (HDV), however, is not well understood yet. This study presents a reinforcement learning modeling approach, named Monte Carlo tree search-based autonomous vehicle safety algorithm, or MCTS-AVS, to optimize the safety of mixed traffic flow, on a one-lane roadway with signalized intersection control. Crash potential index (CPI) is defined to quantitively measure the safety performance of the mixed traffic …

Your 'Attention' Deserves Attention: A Self-Diversified Multi-Channel Attention For Facial Action Analysis, Xiaotian Li, Zhihua Li, Huiyuan Yang, Geran Zhao, Lijun Yin

Computer Science Faculty Research & Creative Works

Visual attention has been extensively studied for learning fine-grained features in both facial expression recognition (FER) and Action Unit (AU) detection. A broad range of previous research has explored how to use attention modules to localize detailed facial parts (e, g. facial action units), learn discriminative features, and learn inter-class correlation. However, few related works pay attention to the robustness of the attention module itself. Through experiments, we found neural attention maps initialized with different feature maps yield diverse representations when learning to attend the identical Region of Interest (ROI). In other words, similar to general feature learning, the representational …

Exploiting Semantic Embedding And Visual Feature For Facial Action Unit Detection, Huiyuan Yang, Lijun Yin, Yi Zhou, Jiuxiang Gu

Computer Science Faculty Research & Creative Works

Recent study on detecting facial action units (AU) has utilized auxiliary information (i.e., facial landmarks, relationship among AUs and expressions, web facial images, etc.), in order to improve the AU detection performance. As of now, no semantic information of AUs has yet been explored for such a task. As a matter of fact, AU semantic descriptions provide much more information than the binary AU labels alone, thus we propose to exploit the Semantic Embedding and Visual feature (SEV-Net) for AU detection. More specifically, AU semantic embeddings are obtained through both Intra-AU and Inter-AU attention modules, where the Intra-AU attention module …

Fecal Sample Collection Methods And Time Of Day Impact Microbiome Composition And Short Chain Fatty Acid Concentrations, Jacquelyn Jones, Stacey N. Reinke, Alishum Ali, Debra J. Palmer, Claus T. Christophersen

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

Associations between the human gut microbiome and health outcomes continues to be of great interest, although fecal sample collection methods which impact microbiome studies are sometimes neglected. Here, we expand on previous work in sample optimization, to promote high quality microbiome data. To compare fecal sample collection methods, amplicons from the bacterial 16S rRNA gene (V4) and fungal (ITS2) region, as well as short chain fatty acid (SCFA) concentrations were determined in fecal material over three timepoints. We demonstrated that spot sampling of stool results in variable detection of some microbial members, and inconsistent levels of SCFA; therefore, sample homogenization …

Association Between Community-Based Self-Reported Covid-19 Symptoms And Social Deprivation Explored Using Symptom Tracker Apps: A Repeated Cross-Sectional Study In Northern Ireland, Jennifer M. Mckinley, David Cutting, Neil Anderson, Conor Graham, Brian Johnston, Ute Mueller, Peter M. Atkinson, Hugo Van Woerden, Declan T. Bradley, Frank Kee

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

Objectives: The aim of the study was to investigate the spatial and temporal relationships between the prevalence of COVID-19 symptoms in the community-level and area-level social deprivation. Design: Spatial mapping, generalised linear models, using time as a factor and spatial-lag models were used to explore the relationship between self-reported COVID-19 symptom prevalence as recorded through two smartphone symptom tracker apps and a range of socioeconomic factors using a repeated cross-sectional study design. Setting: In the community in Northern Ireland, UK. The analysis period included the earliest stages of non-pharmaceutical interventions and societal restrictions or 'lockdown' in 2020. Participants: Users of …

Whisper: A Location Privacy-Preserving Scheme Using Transmission Range Changing For Internet Of Vehicles, Messaoud Babaghayou, Nabila Labraoui, Ado A. Abba Ari, Mohamed A. Ferrag, Leandros Maglaras, Helge Janicke

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

Internet of Vehicles (IoV) has the potential to enhance road-safety with environment sensing features provided by embedded devices and sensors. This benignant feature also raises privacy issues as vehicles announce their fine-grained whereabouts mainly for safety requirements, adversaries can leverage this to track and identify users. Various privacy-preserving schemes have been designed and evaluated, for example, mix-zone, encryption, group forming, and silent-period-based techniques. However, they all suffer inherent limitations. In this paper, we review these limitations and propose WHISPER, a safety-aware location privacy-preserving scheme that adjusts the transmission range of vehicles in order to prevent continuous location monitoring. We detail …

The Effect Of Cryogenic Machining Of S2 Glass Fibre Composite On The Hole Form And Dimensional Tolerances, Ugur Koklu, Sezer Morkavuk, Carol Featherston, Malik Haddad, David Sanders, Muhammad Aamir, Danil Yu Pimenov, Khaled Giasin

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

S2 glass fibre reinforced epoxy composites are widely used in aeronautical applications owing to their excellent strength to weight ratio. Drilling glass fibres can be cumbersome due to their abrasive nature and poor thermal conductivity. Moreover, the use of conventional coolants is not desirable due to contamination and additional costs for cleaning the machine part. An alternative is to use environmentally friendly coolants such as liquid nitrogen (LN2) which have been previously employed in machining metals and composites. The current study investigates the effect of drilling S2 glass fibre composite in a bath of LN2. The study aims to evaluate …

Covid-19 Disease Severity And Death In Relation To Vitamin D Status Among Sars-Cov-2-Positive Uae Residents, Habiba Alsafar, William B. Grant, Rafiq Hijazi, Maimunah Uddin, Nawal Alkaabi, Guan Tay, Bassam Mahboub, Fatme Al Anouti

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

Insufficient blood levels of the neurohormone vitamin D are associated with increased risk of COVID-19 severity and mortality. Despite the global rollout of vaccinations and promising preliminary results, the focus remains on additional preventive measures to manage COVID-19. Results conflict on vitamin D’s plausible role in preventing and treating COVID-19. We examined the relation between vitamin D status and COVID-19 severity and mortality among the multiethnic population of the United Arab Emirates. Our observational study used data for 522 participants who tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 at one of the main hospitals in Abu Dhabi and Dubai. Only 464 of those …

Wellbeing Of Breastfeeding Women In Australia And New Zealand During The Covid‐19 Pandemic: A Cross‐Sectional Study, Vanessa S. Sakalidis, Alethea Rea, Sharon L. Perrella, Jacki Mceachran, Grace Collis, Jennifer Miraudo, Stuart A. Prosser, Lisa Y. Gibson, Desiree Silva, Donna T. Geddes

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

During the COVID‐19 pandemic, breastfeeding women have experienced restricted access to support, placing them at increased risk of mental health concerns and limited breastfeeding assistance. This study investigated the effect of the pandemic on feeding choices and maternal well-being amongst breastfeeding mothers living in Australian and New Zealand. We conducted a cross-sectional online survey that examined feeding methods, maternal mental wellbeing, worries, challenges, and positive experiences during the pandemic. Most women were exclusively breastfeeding (82%). Partial breastfeeding was associated with perceived low milk supply and longer pregnancy duration during the pandemic. Reduced mental health and wellbeing was associated with lower …

Sleep Characteristics And Mood Of Professional Esports Athletes: A Multi-National Study, Sangha Lee, Daniel Bonnar, Brandy Roane, Michael Gradisar, Ian C. Dunican, Michele Lastella, Gemma Maisey, Sooyeon Suh

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

© 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. Esports is becoming increasingly professionalized, yet research on performance management is remarkably lacking. The present study aimed to investigate the sleep and mood of professional esports athletes. Participants were 17 professional esports athletes from South Korea (N = 8), Australia (N = 4), and the United States (N = 5) who played first person shooter games (mean age 20 ± 3.5 years, 100% male). All participants wore a wrist-activity monitor for 7–14 days and completed subjective sleep and mood questionnaires. Participants had a median total sleep time of 6.8 h and …

Detecting Sex-Related Changes To The Metabolome Of A Critically Endangered Freshwater Crayfish During The Mating Season, Emily Lette, Quinton Burnham, Nathan Lawler, Pierre Horwitz, Mary C. Boyce, David I. Broadhurst, Rodney Duffy, Annette Koenders

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

Captive breeding is a vital tool in the conservation of highly endangered species, as it is for the Margaret River hairy marron, Cherax tenuimanus, from the south west of Australia. A close relative, Cherax cainii, has almost completely displaced C. tenuimanus in the wild and is a successful aquaculture species, whereas C. tenuimanus has performed poorly in captivity. We used untargeted liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry to obtain metabolomic profiles of female and male C. tenuimanus held in controlled aquarium conditions during their reproductive period. Using repeated haemolymph sampling we tracked the metabolomic profiles of animals just prior to and …

Open Education Exploration Grant: Leah Nillas, Leah Nillas

Ames Library Awards

No abstract provided.

A Bibiliometric Analysis Of The Journal Of Computers In Human Behavior: 1985–2019, Mohsen Jalali

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

Background: The Journal of Computers in Human Behavior published its first issue in 1985. This study presents a general overview of the journal from 1985 until 2019 using bibliometric indicators to assess its performance.

Methods: The data for this study, dating between 1985 and 2019, was extracted from Scopus database. All the information was exported in CSV format for data analysis. Additionally, Visualization was done by VOS viewer software and applying techniques such as Co-occurrence of keywords, Co-citation of journals, and bibliographic coupling of countries.

Results: The results show that the Journal of Computers in Human Behavior has experienced a …

Chemometrics Using R, David T. Harvey

Chemistry & Biochemistry Faculty Publications

Although you may not yet know what we mean by the term chemometrics, you almost certainly make routine use of chemometric techniques in your classes and labs: reporting an average result for several trials of an experiment or creating a calibration curve and using it to find an analyte’s concentration are two examples of chemometric methods analysis with which you almost certainly are familiar. The goal of this textbook is to provide an introduction to chemometrics suitable for the undergraduate chemistry curriculum at the junior or senior level; indeed, much of this textbook's content, including many of the examples and …

Covert Computation In Staged Self-Assembly: Verification Is Pspace-Complete, David Caballero, Timothy Gomez, Robert Schweller, Tim Wylie

Computer Science Faculty Publications

Staged self-assembly has proven to be a powerful abstract model of self-assembly by modeling laboratory techniques where several nanoscale systems are allowed to assemble separately and then be mixed at a later stage. A fundamental problem in self-assembly is Unique Assembly Verification (UAV), which asks whether a single final assembly is uniquely constructed. This has previously been shown to be Π^{p}₂-hard in staged self-assembly with a constant number of stages, but a more precise complexity classification was left open related to the polynomial hierarchy.
Covert Computation was recently introduced as a way to compute a function while hiding the input …

Majorization And Minimal Energy On Spheres, Oleg R. Musin

School of Mathematical & Statistical Sciences Faculty Publications

In the present paper, we consider the majorization theorem (also known as Karamata's inequality) and the respective minima of the majorization (the so-called M-sets) for f-energy potentials of m-point configurations on the unit sphere. In particular, we show the optimality of regular simplexes, describe some M-sets of small cardinality, define and discuss spherical f-designs.

The Role Of Stereotype Threat In Ethnically Minoritized Students' Science Motivation: A Four-Year Longitudinal Study Of Achievement And Persistence In Stem, Delaram A. Totonchi, Tony Perez, You-Kyung Lee, Kristy A. Robinson, Lisa Linnenbrink-Garcia

STEMPS Faculty Publications

Grounded in expectancy-value and stereotype threat theories, this four-year longitudinal study examined associations between changes in stereotype threat and motivation (self-efficacy, task values, and perceived costs) among 425 undergraduates from racial/ethnic groups typically underrepresented in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). Growth analyses indicated that students' stereotype threat and perceived cost of studying science increased during college, whereas science self-efficacy, intrinsic value, and attainment value declined. Parallel growth analyses suggested that higher initial stereotype threat related to a faster decline in attainment value and faster increase in perceived costs throughout college. Higher initial levels and a steeper increase in stereotype …

New Amphibian And Reptile Distribution Records From Eastern South Dakota, Usa, Drew R. Davis

School of Earth, Environmental, & Marine Sciences Faculty Publications

Over recent years, the continued collection of voucher specimens has helped to better document the distributions of South Dakota’s amphibians and reptiles. Despite large increases in our knowledge of these distributions, it remains clear that gaps in our understanding remain. Here, I report 17 new county records of six species of amphibians and reptiles from eastern South Dakota (east of the Missouri River) that are the result of fieldwork conducted in September 2020. The majority of these records are from the northern portions of the James River Lowland, Missouri Coteau, and Drift Plains ecoregions (Bryce et al. 1998), which are …

Importance Of Low-Relief Nursery Habitat For Reef Fishes, Michael A. Dance, Ray R. Rooker, Richard Kline, Antonietta Quigg, Gregory R. Stunz, R. J. David Wells, Kirsten Lara, Jessica Lee, Bobbie Suarez

School of Earth, Environmental, & Marine Sciences Faculty Publications

Coastal restoration projects to mitigate environmental impacts have increased global demand for sand resources. Unfortunately, these resources are often extracted from sand/shell banks on the inner continental shelf, resulting in significant alteration or loss of low-relief reefs in coastal oceans. Experimental reefs (oyster shell, limestone rubble, composite) were deployed in the western Gulf of Mexico to assess their potential value as nurseries for newly settled reef fishes. Occurrence, abundance, and species richness of juvenile fishes were significantly higher on all three types of low-relief reefs compared with unconsolidated sediment. Moreover, reefs served as nursery habitat for a range of reef …

The North Sky And The Otherworld: Journeys Of The Dead In The Neolithic Considered, Frank Prendergast

Book/Book Chapter

The majority of Irish passage tombs (c. 230) predominantly date to the Middle Neolithic (c. 3600–3000 BC). A small number of summit cairns may also contain passage tombs because of their round form, proximity and intervisibility. The island’s passage tombs and related cairns share distinguishing characteristics – elevated siting, visibility and long-range views of distant horizons in varying directions of the compass. This chapter presents the findings of the first scenic analysis of the horizon and views at these sites recorded at an island scale. The method uses measured orientations of horizon sectors related to observed variation in horizon range. …

You Can't Lose A Game If You Don't Play The Game: Exploring The Ethics Of Gamification In Education, Dympna O'Sullivan, Ioannis Stavrakakis, Damian Gordon, Andrea Curley, Brendan Tierney, Emma Murphy, Michael Collins, Anna Becevel

Articles

Gamification has been hailed as a meaningful solution to the perennial challenge of sustaining student attention in class. It uses facets of gameplay in an educational context, including things such as points, leaderboards and badges. These are clearly efforts to make the student experience more entertaining and engaging, but nonetheless, they are also clearly digital nudges and attempts to change the students’ behaviours and attitudes to a specific set of concepts, and in which case they must, and should, be subject to the same ethical scrutiny as any other form of persuasion technique, as they may be unintentionally eroding the …

Hublinked: A Curriculum Mapping Framework For Industry, Paul Doyle, Cathy Ennis, Anna Becevel, Stephane Maag, Radu Dobrin, Mojca Ciglarič, Yunia Choi, Alan Fahey, Deirdre Lillis

Conference Papers

A key aim of HubLinked is to improve the effectiveness of University-Industry linkages between CS faculties and ICT companies. One of the problems identified as core to the Project was to match Learning Outcomes from different curricula with the requirements dictated by the ICT industry with the final aim to enhance students Graduate Skills and employability. Based on agreed core U-I linkage attributes, lower-level curriculum L0s have been designed and reviewed by industry partners. To enable the replication of this process, a tool was designed to make the comparison of graduates' skills from different institutions easily accessible. Using this tool …

Sustainable International Engagement Using A Partner Co-Hosted Teaching Model, Brian Gillespie, Paul Doyle, Zy Jiang, Darryl Humble

Conference Papers

Internationalisation is a significant activity of Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) worldwide and is typically embedded within the aims, ambitions, vision, and strategy of the institution. It incorporates the policies and procedures required to facilitate participation within a global academic environment, and is often considered to be a transformative process that impacts practices in teaching and learning, research, and administration. With formal protocols to establish partnerships, such as memoranda of understanding and articulation agreements, the business of formally creating international partnerships is well defined. However, the motivations, corresponding metrics and key performance indicators (KPIs) of successful partnerships are not as well …

Managing A Mega-Project To Explore And Enhance Careers: Insights From Global Entrepreneurial Talent Management 3, Alison Pearce, Brian Harney, Mark Bailey, Katarzyna Dziewanowska, Janine Bosak, Peter Pease, Brenda Stalker, Dimitra Skoumpopoulou, Paul Doyle, Samuel Clegg, Alireza Shokri, Suzanne Crane, Susan O'Donnell, Rose Quan, Ilsang Ko, Katarina K. Mihelič, Robert Kaše, Matej Černe, Julie Brückner, John Mcmackin, Szu-Hsin Wu, Jose Aldo Valencia Hernandez, Huan Sun

Other

Contemporary careers are changing and face many challenges. This creates a need for innovative cross-cultural and multidisciplinary research. In this chapter, twenty-three participants in a European/South Korean research mega-project provide an overview of their diverse experiences of trans-national, trans-sectoral, and trans-generational work. First, the project’s architects explore the context and rationale in five countries, selection of partners, securing funding and the underpinning principles of ‘strategic entrepreneurship’ and ‘multi-sociation’. Key workstream leaders then outline the project content, including diplomacy in research design, reflecting gender, ensuring impact, capturing learning, communicating to various audiences. Major aspects of Implementation are described: quality management, managing …

Near-Field Propagation Analysis For Vivaldi Antenna Design: Insight Into The Propagation Process For Optimizing The Directivity, Integrity Of Signal Transmission, And Efficiency, Ha Hoang, Matthias John, Patrick Mcevoy, Max Ammann

Articles

Refined optimization of complex curve–linear-shaped radiators, such as traveling-wave Vivaldi antennas, can be achieved by considering simulated near fields to interpret in detail the structural influences of a design. The relationships between the space and time distributions of electromagnetic (EM) energy clusters and the geometric features are revealed with appropriate use of impulse response analysis combined with the multiple signal classification (MUSIC) algorithm. This article reports a deeper approach when applied to the adjustment of the geometric features of a traveling-wave antenna based on an analysis of near-field propagation features.

Attitudes Of Community College Faculty Toward Online Foreign Language Courses, Erika Dale Stevens

Electronic Theses and Dissertations Archive

This study examined the attitudes that Tennessee community college faculty hold toward online foreign language courses and the predictive correlational relationship between those attitudes and advising behaviors of the faculty in regard to online foreign language courses. According to the Reasoned Action Approach, formerly the Theory of Reasoned Action, attitudes, perceived social norm, and perceived behavioral control can be used to determine behavioral intention, which can predict future actions. The data collected from this cross-sectional descriptive and predictive correlational study was analyzed using a hierarchical multiple regression analysis to determine if there is a correlation between faculty attitudes, perceived social …

Exploring The Moderating Role Of Ethnic Identity In The Relation Between Adolescent Stress And Life Satisfaction, Allyson Topps

Electronic Theses and Dissertations Archive

Research in the field of positive psychology has expanded knowledge about factors that contribute to well-being. Less attention has focused on the role of ethnic identity in youths reactions to environmental factors and perceived life experiences. This study examined the potential protective effect of ethnic identity in the relation between adolescents normative social stressors (family and peer) and a minority stressor (perceived discrimination) and life satisfaction. Data was collected via self-report measures from 417 adolescents (age range 14 to 18, 63.0% girls) at a public high school in the mid-south region of the United States. Moderation analyses were conducted in …

Statistical Methods For Patterns And Interconnections Between Variables With Applications In Epigenetics Data, Jiajing Wang

Electronic Theses and Dissertations Archive

Epigenetics is one possible mechanism explaining the disease heritability withoutchanging DNA sequence. DNA methylation (DNAm), as an epigenetic factor with amemory of environmental exposure, may potentially explain the existing missingheritabability. Learning the patterns of DNAm transmission at different CpG sites andstudying the interconnection among the transmitted CpG sites is beneficial to diseaseprediction and prevention. In my dissertation, I will focus on two perspectives to study thetransmission of DNA methylation: clustering and network.The first project describes a nested Bayesian clustering method to identify DNAmethylation (DNAm) sites (CpG sites) such that DNAm is transmitted from onegeneration to the next, and to study …

Measurinig Elementary Teacher Concerns About Integrating English Language Arts And Music In The Common-Core Classroom, Hilary Robb Dow Ward

Electronic Theses and Dissertations Archive

Leadership & Policy Studies