Digital Commons Network^™

Factors Affecting Teacher Satisfaction And Retention In Small Rural School Districts In Arkansas, Toni Hopkins

College of Education Dissertations

The purpose of this dissertation was to determine by teacher certification level the effects of 0-9 years of experience versus 10 years or more of experience on the perceptions of pay, supervision, colleagues, and working conditions as measured by the Lester Teacher Job Satisfaction Questionnaire. Understanding teachers’ perceptions of job satisfaction may increase teacher retention. The theoretical framework was Maslow’s theory of motivation and the hierarchy of needs. A stratified random sample of 144 teachers from five small rural school districts in West-Central Arkansas was used for the study. Data analysis involved the use of 2 x 2 factorial ANOVAs. …

Pakistan’S First-Ever Participation In An International Large-Scale Assessment (Timss): Critique And Implications, Sohail Ahmad, Sherwin Rodrigues, Sadia Muzaffar Bhutta

Institute for Educational Development, Karachi

The International Large-Scale Assessment (ILSA) is a rapidly growing field in education which has gained considerable attention of stakeholders across the globe. Historically, ILSA emerged from the developed context which has drifted to the developing contexts in a short span of time due to globalisation. Pakistan has participated in ILSA (i.e., TIMSS) for the first time in the 2019 cycle. In light of the global critique on ILSA, this paper presents a critical analysis on Pakistan’s participation in TIMSS by raising questions embedded in contextual realities. The discussion adds to the understanding of ILSA in terms of historical developments, theoretical …

No Theory Solution Focused Practices Is A Way Of Life: A Further Step To An Ecology Of Mind, Nick Drury

Journal of Solution Focused Practices

No abstract provided.

A Multistate Competing Risks Framework For Preconception Prediction Of Pregnancy Outcomes, Kaitlyn Cook, Neil J. Perkins, Enrique Schisterman, Sebastien Haneuse

Statistical and Data Sciences: Faculty Publications

Background: Preconception pregnancy risk profiles—characterizing the likelihood that a pregnancy attempt results in a full-term birth, preterm birth, clinical pregnancy loss, or failure to conceive—can provide critical information during the early stages of a pregnancy attempt, when obstetricians are best positioned to intervene to improve the chances of successful conception and full-term live birth. Yet the task of constructing and validating risk assessment tools for this earlier intervention window is complicated by several statistical features: the final outcome of the pregnancy attempt is multinomial in nature, and it summarizes the results of two intermediate stages, conception and gestation, whose outcomes …

Progressive Analytics Diffusions: Rewiring Our Software, Liz Wanless

Journal of Applied Sport Management

The sport industry is no stranger to the pursuit of innovation (Slack & Thurston, 2021). The sport analytics realm represents the continual emergence of innovation diffusion curves. This essay shows how innovating both research and education in response to diffusion curves in sport analytics, we can create the space to not only keep but also generate pace.

The Education Process Of Children With Imprisoned Parents After The July 15, 2016 Coup Attempt In Turkey

Journal of Comparative & International Higher Education

No abstract provided.

Image Analysis And Machine Learning In Agricultural Research, Xinzheng Chen

Doctor of Plant Health Program: Dissertations and Student Research

Agricultural research has been a focus for academia and industry to improve human well-being. Given the challenges in water scarcity, global warming, and increased prices of fertilizer, and fossil fuel, improving the efficiency of agricultural research has become even more critical. Data collection by humans presents several challenges including: 1) the subjectiveness and reproducibility when doing the visual evaluation, 2) safety when dealing with high toxicity chemicals or severe weather events, 3) mistakes cannot be avoided, and 4) low efficiency and speed.

Image analysis and machine learning are more versatile and advantageous in evaluating different plant characteristics, and this could …

The North Platte River Valley: The Intersectionality Between Water Quality And People, Anni Poetzl

School of Natural Resources: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The North Platte River (NPR) Valley of western Nebraska is a semi-arid watershed with row crop production, livestock production, and urban land use activity and has a population of diverse stakeholders. These land use activities contribute to the enrichment of surface waters, such as streams, which can affect human and ecosystem health, as well as economic development and recreational activities. The project objectives are to: (1) quantify the movement of dissolved inorganic nutrients from the land within the NPR Valley to the NPR via tributaries and canals, (2) identify spatiotemporal variability of nutrient limitation of periphyton growth within the NPR, …

Human And Hydrologic Influences On Nebraska's Endangered Rainwater Basin Wetlands, Sarah Thompson

Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Over half of wetlands in North America have been lost or degraded. Rainwater Basin (RWB) wetlands, located in south-central Nebraska, are a primary example of such loss; an estimated 90% have been destroyed by land conversion for agriculture. Remaining RWB wetlands are often embedded in row-crop fields, where they are threatened by altered surface water runoff flow, drainage features, and excess sediment inputs. Efforts at the state and federal level have been made to preserve this wetland complex due to the critical stopover habitat these wetlands provide for migratory birds. Land managers work to maintain sufficient water levels during migratory …

Character First: Defining And Methodizing Character Depth, Jeff Mason

Criterion: A Journal of Literary Criticism

This paper explores the definition of "depth" in characters and provides a radical new definition, supplemented by an applicable model. By looking into significant literary theory, contemporary works of story, and even elements of mathematics, this paper advances our understanding of characters and how they create meaning in stories.

Machine Learning-Based Methods For The Segmentation Of Scanning Electron Microscopy Images Of Fine-Grained Shale Samples, Binqian Yin

Earth & Environmental Sciences Dissertations - Archive

The segmentation of scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images is critical yet time-consuming for geological studies, as it will need to differentiate the boundaries for different mineral objects to facilitate subsequent analyses, such as porosity calculation. Recently, machine learning methods, especially convolutional neural networks (CNNs), have been explored to segment SEM images for fine-grained shale samples. However, existing methods fail to address two critical issues in the segmentation of shale rock images---insufficient labeled data and imbalanced objects. To this end, this dissertation has proposed a machine learning pipeline that consists of supervised, semi-supervised, and active learning stages to reduce manual efforts …

Autonomous Teaming Of Multileader System - Robust Cluster Formation Approach, Maryam N. Naleini

Electrical Engineering Dissertations - Archive

The cluster consensus problem of Multileader MAS Is considered and the clustering problem of interconnected multileader systems is formulated as a disturbance attenuation problem. For the first time, it's proved that the multileader MAS can reach cluster consensus without limiting the communication between the clusters. The combination of Small Gain Theorem and H8 optimization has been designed in the graphical differential game platform to prove the stability for the system. At the end, an online off-policy reinforcement learning algorithm is developed to find the solution to the H8 optimal problem of multileader MAS with completely unknown systems.

Primed And Cued: Long-Term Acoustic Telemetry Links Interannual And Seasonal Variations In Freshwater Flows To The Spawning Migrations Of Common Snook In The Florida Everglades, Jordan A. Massie, Rolando O. Santos, Ryan J. Rezek, W. Ryan James, Natasha M. Viadero, Ross E. Boucek, David A. Blewett, Alexis A. Trotter, Philip W. Stevens, Jennifer S. Rehage

Marine Science

Background: Spawning migrations are a widespread phenomenon among fishes, often occurring in response to environmental conditions prompting movement into reproductive habitats (migratory cues). However, for many species, individual fish may choose not to migrate, and research suggests that conditions preceding the spawning season (migratory primers) may influence this decision. Few studies have provided empirical descriptions of these prior conditions, partly due to a lack of long-term data allowing for robust multi-year comparisons. To investigate how primers and cues interact to shape the spawning migrations of coastal fishes, we use acoustic telemetry data from Common Snook (Centropomus undecimalis) in Everglades National …

Impact Of The Pacific Sector Sea Ice Loss On The Sudden Stratospheric Warming Characteristics, Jiarong Zhang, Yvan J. Orsolini, Varavut Limpasuvan, Jinro Ukita

Marine Science

The atmospheric response to Arctic sea ice loss remains a subject of much debate. Most studies have focused on the sea ice retreat in the Barents-Kara Seas and its troposphere-stratosphere influence. Here, we investigate the impact of large sea ice loss over the Chukchi-Bering Seas on the sudden stratospheric warming (SSW) phenomenon during the easterly phase of the Quasi-Biennial Oscillation through idealized large-ensemble experiments based on a global atmospheric model with a well-resolved stratosphere. Although culminating in autumn, the prescribed sea ice loss induces near-surface warming that persists into winter and deepens as the SSW develops. The resulting temperature contrasts …

Embedding Sustainability And Experiential Learning To Encourage Student-Led, Climate-Resilient Solutions At Bsu, Diana Fox, Wanchunzi Yu, Robert Hellström, Xiangrong Liu

Bridgewater Review

No abstract provided.

Rapid Detection Of Recurrent Non-Muscle Invasive Bladder Cancer In Urine Using Atr-Ftir Technology, Abdullah I. El-Falouji, Dalia M. Sabri, Naira M. Lofti, Doaa M. Medany, Samar A. Mohamed, Mai Alaa-Eldin, Amr Mounir Selim, Asmaa A. El Leithy, Haitham F. Kalil, Ahmed El-Tobgy, Ahmed Mohamed

Chemistry Faculty Publications

Non-muscle Invasive Bladder Cancer (NMIBC) accounts for 80% of all bladder cancers. Although it is mostly low-grade tumors, its high recurrence rate necessitates three-times-monthly follow-ups and cystoscopy examinations to detect and prevent its progression. A rapid liquid biopsy-based assay is needed to improve detection and reduce complications from invasive cystoscopy. Here, we present a rapid spectroscopic method to detect the recurrence of NMIBC in urine. Urine samples from previously-diagnosed NMIBC patients (n = 62) were collected during their follow-up visits before cystoscopy examination. Cystoscopy results were recorded (41 cancer-free and 21 recurrence) and attenuated total refraction Fourier transform infrared (ATR-FTIR) …

Machine Learning For Target Detection Using Uwb Radar Sensor Networks, Dheeral Naresh Bhole

Electrical Engineering Dissertations - Archive

Machine learning (ML) has recently been used to solve critical problems. This dissertation focuses on developing systems using Ultra-Wideband (UWB) wireless sensor networks and machine learning to solve critical tasks such as target detection in various challenging scenarios. These tasks have been researched for several years and efforts have been made to achieve universal solutions. In the first part of this dissertation, we have proposed a system to detect metallic targets in foliage environment. Mission critical systems need to be ready for the harsh working environment such as dense foliage, water bodies, rain, heavy winds and other natural challenges. Extreme …

University Of Nebraska At Omaha Commencement: December 2022, University Of Nebraska At Omaha

Commencement Programs

No abstract provided.

Strong Constraints On New Physics From The Icecube South Pole Neutrino Observatory, Grant Kendrick Parker

Physics Dissertations - Archive

The IceCube Neutrino Observatory, a gigaton-scale ice Cherenkov detector located deep within the Antarctic glacier, has detected hundreds of thousands of atmospheric neutrinos at energies from a few GeV to 100 TeV. Above 100 GeV, where ordinary oscillation effects become vanishingly small, this data sample is particularly sensitive to a wide range of beyond-standard-model (BSM) neutrino oscillation mechanisms. This thesis presents two searches for such BSM physics: flavor-changing nonstandard neutrino interactions (NSI) and neutrino oscillation decoherence (decoherence). The first analysis constrains the mu-tau flavor-changing NSI parameter with eight years of IceCube atmospheric neutrino data ranging from 500 GeV to 1 …

Scalable Data-Driven Predictive Modeling And Analytics For Cho Process Development Optimization, Sarah Mbiki

All Dissertations

In 1982, the FDA approved the first recombinant therapeutic protein, and since then, the biopharmaceutical industry has continued to develop innovative and highly effective biological drugs for various illnesses¹. These drugs are produced using host organisms that are modified to hold the genetic encoding of the targeted protein¹. Of the many host organisms, Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells are often used due to capability to perform posttranslational modification (PTM): which allows human-like synthesis of proteins unlikely to invoke immunogenicity in humans ^1,2.

Despite all the positive attributes, many challenges are associated with CHO cell cultures, …

Bilateral Tensions, The Trade War, And Us-China Trade Relations, Ka Zeng, Rob Wells, Jingping Gu, Austin Wilkins

Political Science Faculty Publications and Presentations

This article constructs a measure of geopolitical and economic tensions in US-China relations based on the sentiment expressed in major US news media and utilizes it to analyze the impact of bilateral tensions on US imports from China between 2002 and 2019. Our results suggest that bilateral tensions have had a negative effect on US imports. Additional analyses of the impact of bilateral tensions for industries with varying levels of supply chain linkages to China suggest that, contrary to expectations, they have more disproportionately affected industries highly integrated with the Chinese market. This pattern continues to hold during the trade …

Imagineering Engineering Education: Learnings From The Case Of Disney And Applications To Industry 5.0, King Harold A. Recto, Juan Jeffrey Consignado, Romano Q. Neyra

Electronics, Computer, and Communications Engineering Faculty Publications

With a market valuation of $238.9 billion, Walt Disney is among the most prosperous and influential entertainment corporations in the world. Being a company that puts high premium on creativity, it pioneered the concept of Imagineering and technology-based projects such as the Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow (EPCOT). As Industry 5.0 transforms the society, the demand for Imagineering is felt but Imagineers are just produced on-the-job and may not be very efficient. To understand Imagineering better, the authors embarked on a case study of where it began, in the Walt Disney Company. This technique was also used to identify Disney's …

Development Of Geoscience Interest And Identity Of Female First-Generation Undergraduate Geoscience Students, Dina London

Dissertations

The purpose of this basic qualitative study was to understand how female first-generation undergraduate geoscience students developed their situational geoscience interests into individual interests that, in turn, supported their geoscience identity and decision to become a geoscience major. The experiences of six female first-generation undergraduate geoscience students were used to explore how geoscience interests and geoscience identities developed over time. I analyzed three artifacts representing participants’ geoscience identity, geoscience interest development timeline, and transcribed interviews to explore emerging themes relating to interest and identity development. Participants described events relating to their situational geoscience interests, individual geoscience interests, and the formation …

Machine Learning For Early Detection Of Pediatric Sepsis, Glory Manson-Endeboh

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Sepsis is a host response to infection in both adults and children. It contributes to approximately 1.7 million cases annually with nearly 270,000 annual deaths in the United States. In the United States, the financial burden of sepsis on survivors and their families including the hospitals is over $4.8 billion, at approximately $64,280 per hospitalization. The first goal of this thesis research is to develop efficient machine learning models to predict pediatric sepsis accurately for inpatients. The second objective is to develop machine learning methods to determine how early sepsis can be detected to mitigate mortality. We examine data collected …

What We Say Matters: Exploring The Importance Of Microaggression Language For Lgbtq+ Science Major Undergraduate Students, Madison L. Fitzgerald-Russell

Dissertations

The purpose of this exploratory qualitative study is to better understand the climate for LGBTQ+ science major undergraduates in their departments through a transformative queer theory lens and intersectionality. Prior research on campus and STEM department climates have demonstrated inclusion issues continue to persist for LGBTQ+ individuals in higher education. One of these issues is discrimination in the form of microaggressions. Microaggressions against LGBTQ+ individuals have been demonstrated to cause physical, mental, and academic harm. In the literature, there is limited information on how microaggressions impact students in particular STEM fields.

LGBTQ+ science undergraduates from public colleges and universities in …

Remote Sensing Application For Landslide Detection: Monitoring Along Eastern Lake Michigan (Miami Park, Mi), Guzalay Sataer

Dissertations

I assessed the nature and spatial and temporal patterns of deformation over the Miami Park bluffs on the eastern margin of Lake Michigan and investigated the factors controlling its observed deformation. Our approach involved the following steps: (1) extracting bluff deformation rates (velocities along the line of sight of the satellite) using a stack of Sentinel-1A radar imagery in ascending acquisition geometry acquired between 2017 and 2021 and applying the Intermittent Small Baseline Subset (ISBAS) InSAR time series analysis method; (2) generating high-resolution (5 cm) elevation models and orthophotos from temporal unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) surveys acquired in 2017, 2019, …

Measuring The Economic Impact Of Recurrent Flooding On Workforce Productivity And Property, Joshua G. Behr, Wie Yusuf, George Mcleod, Sarah Stafford, Derek Loftis, Afi Anuar, Rafael Diaz

Presentations, Lectures, Posters, Reports

From the Executive Summary:

This research draws upon expertise across multiple disciplines and fields. Leveraged are natural systems data and social-behavioral data. The high-level objective is to advance our understanding of how very recent recurrent flooding has impacted residents within the City of Portsmouth, and then forecast these impacts under projections of sea level rise. While this research draws upon data for the City of Portsmouth, the findings may be generalized to the broader Hampton Roads region.

Human Health Risk Assessment Of Trace Metals In Indoor Dust., Wafa Ahmad Alhazmi

Theses (2016-Present)

The risk associated with exposure to heavy metals found in indoor dust is viewed as a serious hazard to human health, and heavy metal pollution of the environment is a major concern on a global scale. Accordingly, the current study set out to assess the heavy metals concentrations in indoor dust and the hazards they bring in adults and children. 71 indoor dust samples were collected from wooden flooring and analyzed using ICP-MS apparatus. Comparing our findings to the Environmental Protection Agency's acceptable risk criteria showed that lead (Pb), manganese (Mn), Chromium (Cr), copper (Cu), and zinc (Zn) had high …

Sea Level Rising And Its Impact On Nyc, Angela Knafo, Jeff Mao, Andray Whyte, Filip Valencin, Erick Humala, Jubran Alawdi, Jonathan Carangui

Publications and Research

Climate change is not only about the rising temperatures, which is usually the most discussed topic in news, but it also involves other Earth sciences like hydrology, oceanography and other parts of meteorology In our poster we are focusing on sea level rising and its impact on NYC, and how people could mitigate and adapt to it

Natural Language Processing For Disaster Tweets, Akinyemi D. Apampa, Nan Li

Publications and Research

Our goal is to establish an automatic model that identifies which tweets are about natural disasters based on the content of the tweets. Our method is to construct a decision tree based on keyword searching. We will construct the model using 7,645 tweets and test our model on 3,465 tweets as an assessment of the performance.