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Faith Down The Rabbit Hole: A Critical Rhetorical Interrogation Of Q-Anon And Parasitic Christianity, Nate Carlson

Masters Theses

Over the course of the last six years, the conspiracy theory community known as Q-Anon has risen to prominence across the internet, coming to encapsulate a significant portion of the United States’ conservative and protestant populations. This study applies the act of Critical Rhetoric as proposed by McKerrow (1989) to the Q-Anon “drops”; message board posts wherein Q, the enigmatic leader of Q-Anon, preached conspiratorial ideology and misinformation to his followers. A pattern of Christian theology being usurped and retooled by Q as a method of faith-based political radicalization emerged throughout the texts, and this phenomenon was named “Parasitic Christianity.” …

Computational Insights On Medicinal Chemistry Targeting Cyp450s, Alexander D. Fenton

Theses and Dissertations--Chemistry

Modern-day medicinal chemistry has provided researchers with a wide variety of tools to not only gather greater insight from their data, but also to generate data in new ways. One such tool is the construction of computational protein models from crystallographic datasets, and their subsequent use to understand the structure-activity relationships of protein-ligand complexes. These models can be utilized for their predictive power to inform the synthesis of, and improvement of, lead compounds. It is the goal of this work to employ such models to the CYP450 enzyme system such that potent and selective inhibitors can be designed, evaluated biologically, …

Oh, You're The One That's Keeping Us Open: Senior Student Affairs Officers' Crisis Leadership And Decision Making In Response To Covid-19, Michael R. Lango

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

The purpose of this dissertation was to understand the experience of higher education crisis leaders while facing an unprecedented crisis. COVID-19 thrust senior student affairs professionals, who most often serve as crisis leaders on small college campuses, into the position of decision-maker guiding the campus response to the pandemic. The research explored the crisis leadership experience of SSAOs during the first year of their crisis response. Five themes emerged from the data collected during the research: a) the influence of institutional structure and culture on decisions, b) uniqueness of crisis decision making, c) engagement and utilization of human resources, d) …

Us Of Al Review, Jonathan Pucci

Mighty Pen Project Anthology & Archive

A review of the sitcom US of Al by a marine who served in Afghanistan.

Articles, stories, and other compositions in this archive were written by participants in the Mighty Pen Project. The program, developed by author David L. Robbins, and in partnership with Virginia Commonwealth University and the Virginia War Memorial in Richmond, Virginia, offers veterans and their family members a customized twelve-week writing class, free of charge. The program encourages, supports, and assists participants in sharing their stories and experiences of military experience so both writer and audience may benefit.

Margins Of The City: Urban Masculinity And Identity Politics In British Social-Realist Queer Cinema, Yi Li

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

This dissertation identifies and analyzes a history of queer politics and identities in British realist cinema from the early 1960s to the 2010s. Focusing primarily on filmmakers Sidney J. Furie, Stephen Frears, Hettie MacDonald, and Andrew Haigh, it traces British queer maleness of the working class by tracking its changing representations and demonstrates how urban cinematic realism proves central to British definitions of masculinity. The first chapter investigates how foundational films of the British New Wave address social inequalities as consequences of class and sexuality to consider how they embraced a sexual frankness and realism with coded and decoded homoeroticism. …

The Effects Of Mini-Lectures On Students’ Academic Achievement In An Adaptive E-Learning Environment: A Mixed-Methods Case Study, Antonella Scarpiello

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

This mixed-methods case study examines the effects of adaptive e-learning approaches focused on the connection between instructional material, structured as mini-lectures learned by following adaptive e-learning pathways, and student academic achievement. Specifically, it analyzes mini-video lectures' effectiveness in helping students understand challenging concepts and improve their overall performance. This study demonstrates that the interactive and student-controlled nature of mini-videos, embedded in an adaptive platform, provides students with personalized learning that places them at the center of their educational experience and significantly improves their classroom performance. The quantitative outcomes reveal that students have positively responded to adaptive e-learning strategies and activities …

The Impact Of An Immersive Virtual Reality Learning Environment With Computer-Aided Design And Three-Dimensional Modeling Through Stem Middle-School Education Programming, Danielle Eve Schneider

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Immersive virtual reality as a tool in the middle-school classroom is a promising avenue to aid in cognitively challenging tasks requiring access to visual processes. As these tools become ever present in society, the expectation of school districts to include them into classroom curricula has become challenging, as there is inconsistent data connecting to beneficial learning outcomes. Middle-School STEM classrooms experience an exceptional challenge in the expectation to build strong spatial reasoning skills on rudimentary geometry concepts. It is with that in mind that many 21st-century technology classrooms turn to immersive virtual reality, such as Oculus Rift, as a tool …

Grief Experiences Of Counselors: A Photovoice Exploration And Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis, Paige S. Spangler

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

There is a lack of research on practicing counselors and how personal and painful experiences, such as grief, influence their identity. Grief can impact counselors’ wellness and result in emotional impairment. CACREP standards do not require training in grief counseling. Thus, there are vacancies in understanding the influence of grief and a lack of preparation in navigation and dialogue of grief in counselor education programs. This qualitative study explored the phenomenological experiences of how grief influences counselor identity. The methodology used in this study was photovoice with interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA). Photovoice allowed participants to describe their experiences through their …

Views From The Retail Apocalypse: Store Closures, Spatial Accessibility, And Last Mile Delivery Via Drone, Joseph Tokosh

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

This dissertation examines important activity occurring in the retail industry related to the widespread transformation occurring throughout it. Specifically, it analyzes store closures, spatial accessibility’s role in retail decision making, and the potential market that could be served by a drone delivery system. Store closures of the movie rental chain Family Video, and three department store chains (Macy’s, Sears, and JCPenney) are analyzed through a binary logistic regression. Findings show that the contributory impact of variables toward store closures are different for small businesses like Family Video compared to the large scale department stores. Some of the major differences include …

Recreational Female Crossfit Athletes And Low Energy Availability, Alison Kuch

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

CrossFit is a demanding sport in which athletes perform constantly varied, functional movements at a high intensity, therefore requiring an adequate energy availability to avoid negative health and performance consequences. The purpose of this study was to assess risk of low energy availability (low EA) (phase 1) among recreational, female CrossFit athletes and measure and calculate energy availability using a 7-day dietary to measure energy intake (EI) and exercise energy expenditure (ExEE) (phase 2). In phase 1, using the LEAF-Q (Low Energy Availability in Females Questionnaire), 49% of survey respondents (n=149) were found to be at risk of low EA. …

"After All, Who Takes Care Of The Red Cross's Morale?": The Experiences Of American Red Cross Clubmobile Women During World War Ii, Paige Gulley

War, Diplomacy, and Society (MA) Theses

This thesis examines the experiences of the women who served in the American Red Cross Clubmobile Service in the European Theater of Operations during World War II. Their job required them to travel through England, France, and even Germany in converted buses and 2 ½ ton trucks, serving coffee, donuts, and a smile to soldiers just off the front lines. Though considered essential to maintaining soldiers’ morale, historians have virtually ignored these women’s experiences and role in the war. The inattention to their participation by the academic community parallels the disregard the women faced during the war. Clubmobile women encountered …

Leveraging Aircraft Transponder Signals For Measuring Aircraft Fleet Mix At Non-Towered Airports, Chuyang Yang, John Mott, Darcy M. Bullock

International Journal of Aviation, Aeronautics, and Aerospace

The general aviation sector has contributed significantly to the overall growth of the aviation industry. Fleet mix and operations information is important for the analysis of both the safety and the environmental and economic impact of general aviation activity. Factual data on the impact of environment and safety is particularly important, given the scarcity of airport improvement funds and the strong stakeholder engagement that often occurs when airport investments are evaluated. The research presented herein evaluates Mode S short and extended squitter data collected from three general aviation airports over a one-month period. This article demonstrates that by utilizing the …

Agro 366: Soil Nutrient Relationships — A Peer Review Of Teaching Benchmark Portfolio, Meghan Sindelar

UNL Faculty Course Portfolios

Soil Nutrient Relationships serves juniors and seniors with a major or minor in Agronomy. I originally cotaught this course with another professor and was in charge of just the lab portion. Now that I am the sole instructor I had goals of developing new content learning resources and better integrating lab and lecture content. The course was reorganized in 2021 into weekly modules with independent learning, lab time to work on calculations, using NebGuides, and other skill content, and then end of week discussion for relevant case studies or discussion of application and interactions. Students also conducted a group project …

Strengthening Graduate Student Teaching Through The Basic Course: Comm 101: Communication In The 21st Century, Allison Ronnau Bonander

UNL Faculty Course Portfolios

Basic course instruction receives significant attention in relation to pedagogical practices and application. While this examination is very worthy, it often neglects to understand how Graduate Teaching Assistants (GTAs) are trained, taught, and how their learning as teachers is examined. This portfolio examines COMM 101: Communication in the 21st Century, a large lecture basic course with recitations led by GTAs, as a means of understanding how GTAs are trained and taught to meet the “learning objectives” of teaching pedagogy of a basic course. A qualitative analysis of GTA training meetings transcripts as well as emails from GTAs – and select …

Enabling Conceptual Learning To Prepare Students For The New World Of Nutrition Communication, Sabine Zempleni

UNL Faculty Course Portfolios

During the last decades, the flow of nutrition information between nutrition professionals and consumer has changed profoundly. Newest scientific findings are freely available from public data bases and often make it prematurely into the media and social media. Therefore, students need to require a precise knowledge of nutrition concepts, be able to explain the concepts to the consumer, and apply those concepts to eating decisions. Many students have not made the transition from memorizing individual facts to conceptual learning. Students will need appropriate learning tools and instructions to help them make this transition successfully. The goal of this Peer Review …

Vbms 403: Integrated Principles And Prevention Of Livestock Diseases, Christina L. Topliff

UNL Faculty Course Portfolios

This portfolio documents the teaching objectives, strategies, assessments, and changes implemented for VBMS 403: Integrated Principles and Prevention of Livestock Diseases, an Achievement-Centered Education (ACE) 10 Capstone course taught during the Spring Semester through the School of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Teaching methods and course activities included traditional lecturing with quizzes and examinations, in-class discussions, short reading assignments, and the generation of a scholarly term paper demonstrating broad knowledge, technical proficiency, information collection, synthesis, interpretation, and presentation. This portfolio documents the qualitative and quantitative methods used to assess the course learning objectives (goals). My …

Investigating Student Learning Outcomes In Visual Merchandising: A Peer Review Of Teaching Portfolio Of Tmfd 314 Textile And Apparel Merchandising And Promotion, Jennifer Johnson Jorgensen

UNL Faculty Course Portfolios

Students in TMFD 314 learn how to attract consumers to products found in brick-and-mortar stores and online, which leads to heightened sales for brands and retailers. However, based on shifting instruction of the course, it was anticipated that updates were needed. A pre-and post-test was employed to determine how updates should be approached, which helped to determine the students’ perceived level of knowledge on different topic areas. In addition, an investigation of student grades for the first and final project was also assessed to determine areas of possible improvement in the future. Overall, it became clear that a few key …

Measuring Student Success In Jour200a: Fundamentals Of Editing & Reporting I: A Beginning Writing, Editing And Reporting Class, Jessica Fargen Walsh

UNL Faculty Course Portfolios

A grammar error or typo on a resume can mean the difference between getting the job or having your resume deleted. Factual errors and inconsistencies can also affect a writer’s credibility. Accuracy, style, word choice and consistency matter for these reasons and more. Journalism students in particular should come to internships, classes and jobs with the skills they need to succeed. The course Jour200A: The Fundamentals of Reporting & Editing I attempts to meet this demand by providing all majors in the College of Journalism and Mass Communications with a strong foundation in editing and writing. This project sought to …

Exploring The Benefits Of Asynchronous Online Learning In Mngt 360: Foundations Of Organizational Behavior, Amy L. Bartels

UNL Faculty Course Portfolios

This peer review course portfolio describes the shift from in-person teaching to an online, asynchronous format for MNGT 360: Foundations of Organizational Behavior. This course is offered in the Department of Management within the College of Business at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. My goal was to embrace the opportunities and tackle the challenges associated with online learning to generate learning opportunities outside the traditional classroom setting while concurrently creating an interactive environment to allow the students to learn from each other. I redesigned the group project to ease the challenges with online group dynamics and communication as well as the …

Geog 181: Global Environmental Issues – A Faculty-Led Inquiry Into Reflective And Scholarly Teaching Benchmark Portfolio, Patrick Bitterman

UNL Faculty Course Portfolios

This benchmark portfolio is an examination of the structure of Global Environmental Issues (GEOG 181) and how the course materials facilitate student learning. The primary goal of this course is to investigate the nature of – and connections among - urgent global environmental issues in the context of geographic concepts and methods. As a large survey course, there are varied assessments that are punctuated with three summative exams. This portfolio assesses the current state of student learning prior to the addition of recitation sections. In doing so, it assesses exam performance over the course of the semester and by student …

Course Portfolio For Cnst 489: Senior Capstone Project – Fall 2021, Matthew Barrows

UNL Faculty Course Portfolios

This portfolio analyzes CNST 489 – Senior Capstone Project a class in the construction management department of The Durham School at the University of Nebraska. The results of this analysis will be used to improve the content delivered in class and increase the effectiveness of how the content is delivered. This portfolio focuses specifically on how participation by the construction industry in the classroom can increase student learning during their graduating semester. The senior level capstone class is a semester long project based on an actual construction project that is broken down into three main deliverables through the semester. The …

A First Project Benchmark Portfolio Of Biochemistry Ii: Metabolism And Biological Information (Bioc/Bios/Chem 432/832), Xinghui Sun

UNL Faculty Course Portfolios

This portfolio has been developed for Biochemistry II: Metabolism and Biological Information (BIOC/BIOS/CHEM 432/832). This course is taken primarily by senior undergraduates with majors mainly in biochemistry. The objectives of this course portfolio are: 1) to provide a broad overview for this 400 level class; 2) to revise/refine the course using a backward design approach with clear student learning objectives; 3) to assess and reflect the instructor’s teaching approach; and 4) to analyze and reflect on student learning. The course structure was redesigned with three modules to support the learning objectives of this course. Course activities for each module include …

A Benchmark Course Portfolio For Slpa 453: Neurological Foundations Of Speech And Language, Yingying Wang Dr.

UNL Faculty Course Portfolios

This benchmark course portfolio reflects the iterative design process for SLPA 453: Neurological Foundations of Speech and Language. This course covers the foundational knowledge of neuroanatomy and neurophysiology of the central and peripheral nervous system and the neurology of the human communication processes, and the classification of impairments based on the lesion sites in the human brain. I analyzed student learning through various activities that align with two main course goals: (1) demonstrate knowledge of the neurology of human communication processes; (2) demonstrate the ability to integrate information pertaining to normal and abnormal human development across the life span. Based …

Setting The Foundation For Experiential Learning And Academic Success In Mbio 101: Introduction To The Microbiology Major, Brandi Sigmon

UNL Faculty Course Portfolios

Introductory courses for majors, typically completed by first-year students, are important to student success and retention as they set the foundation for students in their respective majors. At the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Microbiology majors complete MBIO 101: Introduction to the Microbiology Major during their first semester as their introductory, foundational course. In this course portfolio, I chose to focus on investigating the impact on student learning of integrating more emphasis on experiential learning knowledge and acquisition within the course through the participation of students in a hands-on workshop and research symposium. Integration of these two events into the MBIO 101 …

Evaluating Quiz And Outline Assessments In Rhetorical Methods, Justin Kirk

UNL Faculty Course Portfolios

In what follows, I lay out the structure and development of assessment design for one of the major methods courses in Communication Studies at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. First, I describe the course including the goals of the course, the student learning outcomes for the course, a description of the course’s place in the context of the department and the university, demographics in the course, and other relevant details necessary to understand the pedagogical goals of research methods in communication studies. Second, I lay out the teaching methods, course materials, and outside activities used throughout the course and connect those …

Fdst 420: Fruits And Vegetables Technology – A Peer Review Of Teaching Project Benchmark Portfolio, Charles Nwaizu

UNL Faculty Course Portfolios

The aim of this portfolio is twofold: first, the portfolio serves to document the author’s approach to teaching while also providing necessary tools to revamp the course delivery methods to a more active learning format from traditional lecture format. Secondly, this portfolio evaluates the effects of students’ group lab discussion, students Interactive class trivia and interdisplinary students’ collaboration active learning approaches on student learning and performances in the course. The student group lab discussion activity involved modification of some of the lab tasks to include short questions listed under the lab procedure. These questions were discussed within the group and …

Theory And Numerical Approaches Of High Order Fractional Sturm-Liouville Problems, Tahereh Houlari, Mohammad Dehghan, Jafar Biazar, Alireza Nouri

Turkish Journal of Mathematics

In this paper, fractional Sturm--Liouville problems of high-order are studied. A simple and efficient approach is presented to determine more eigenvalues and eigenfunctions than other approaches. Existence and uniqueness of solutions of a fractional high-order differential equation with initial conditions is addressed as well as the convergence of the proposed approach. This class of eigenvalue problems is important in finding solutions to linear fractional partial differential equations (LFPDE). This method is illustrated by three examples to signify the efficiency and reliability of the proposed numerical approach.

An Application Of Semigroup Theory To The Coagulation-Fragmentation Models, Arijit Das, Nilima Das, Jitraj Saha

Turkish Journal of Mathematics

We present the existence and uniqueness of strong solutions for the continuous coagulation-fragmentation equation with singular fragmentation and essentially bounded coagulation kernel using semigroup theory of operators. Initially, we reformulate the coupled coagulation-fragmentation problem into the semilinear abstract Cauchy problem (ACP) and consider it as the nonlinear perturbation of the linear fragmentation operator. The existence of the substochastic semigroup is proved for the pure fragmentation equation. Using the substochastic semigroup and some related results for the pure fragmentation equation, we prove the existence of global nonnegative, strong solution for the coagulation-fragmentation equation.

Runner Up Entry For 2021, Kerin Krasnoff

Library Research Prize

No abstract provided.

Runner Up Entry For 2021, Zoe Honigberg

Library Research Prize

No abstract provided.