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International Engagement Newsletter, December 19, 2023, University Of Northern Iowa. Office Of International Engagement.

Office of International Engagement newsletter

In this issue:

--- Happy Winter Break
--- Congrats: New International Graduates
--- Holiday Hoopla
--- OIE Winter Break Schedule
--- Tips from Our Director

Gardner-Webb Office Of Diversity And Inclusion To Host Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration, Office Of University Communications

Gardner-Webb NewsCenter Archive

The Gardner-Webb University O!ice of Diversity and Inclusion is hosting a weeklong celebration, Jan. 11-18, 2024, to honor the life of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Events will recognize the immense significance of King in the nation’s history and serve as a time to reflect on his tireless e!orts to promote justice and equality.

Examining Characteristics On Twitter Users’ Text And Hashtag Utilization During Tech Winter Layoff Post-Covid-19 Using Lda And K-Means Clustering Approach, Fery F., Sunu Widianto

Makara Human Behavior Studies in Asia

Post-COVID-19 pandemic has significantly impacted the global economy, resulting in a surge of job losses and layoffs across various industries, including the technology sector. The pandemic has led to changes in consumer behavior, supply chain disruptions, and an overall decrease in demand, all of which have contributed to the current economic situation. With the rise of social media platforms, individuals have been using Twitter to express their thoughts and opinions on the impact of the pandemic on the technology industry, including the increase in job losses and layoffs. In this study, we analyze the characteristics of Twitter users and their …

Information Management Plan – Appointing Party, Robert Moore

Tools

Information Management Plan – Appointing Party is a support in a spreadsheet format that contains a number of client templates that ISO 19650 recommend the Employer/Client/Sanctioning authority should consider when appointing a delivery team to a delivery project for an Asset.

Build Digital has created Industry templates to allow organisations work in accordance with ISO 19650. These templates start to address the information requirements in the ISO 19650 series of standards. The templates are also in accordance with CEN-TR17654-2021” Guideline for the implementation of Exchange Information Requirements (EIR)and BIM Execution Plans (BEP) on European level based on EN ISO 19650-1 …

Project Information Standard – File Naming, Robert Moore

Tools

Project Information Standard – File Naming is a support in a spreadsheet format that contains a number of templates that give guidance on file naming in accordance with the Irish National Annexe to ISO 19650-2.

Build Digital has created Industry templates to allow organisations work in accordance with ISO 19650. These templates start to address the information requirements in the ISO 19650 series of standards. The templates are also in accordance with CEN-TR17654-2021” Guideline for the implementation of Exchange Information Requirements (EIR)and BIM Execution Plans (BEP) on European level based on EN ISO 19650-1 and -2”. Aspects of the Templates …

Shields Up For Software, Derek E. Bambauer, Melanie J. Teplinsky

UF Law Faculty Publications

This Article contends that the National Cybersecurity Strategy's software liability regime should incorporate two safe harbors. The first would shield software creators and vendors from liability for decisions related to design, implementation, and maintenance, as long as those choices follow enumerated best practices. The second—the “inverse safe harbor”—would have the opposite effect: coders and distributors who engaged in defined worst practices would automatically become liable. This Article explains the design, components, and justifications for these twin safe harbors. The software safe harbors are key parts of the overall design of the new liability regime and work in tandem with the …

Synthesis And Characterization Of Porphyrin And Phthalocyanine-Based Photosensitizers For Energy And Biomedical Applications, Mavis Forson

Theses and Dissertations

Porphyrins have been widely used as photosensitizers in research due to their important role in many biological processes. Phthalocyanines have also gained interest in biological applications such as photodynamic therapy (PDT). This dissertation is focused on the synthesis of different photosensitizers for various applications. This dissertation's first section focuses on research involving synthesizing covalently bonded donor-acceptor systems as photosensitizers. Specifically in this work, two porphyrin-fullerene dyads were synthesized using a modified tetraphenyl porphyrin with varying bridges between the porphyrin and fullerene. Metal was incorporated in the porphyrin core to enhance the properties of the dyads as photosensitizers. Detailed photophysical properties, …

Cyber Resilient Wind Turbine Generator Control System, Nathan Oaks Farrar

Electronic Theses and Dissertations Archive

As wind turbine generator systems become more common in the modern power grid, the question of how to adequately protect them from cyber criminals has become a major theme in the development of new control systems. As such, Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) algorithms have become major contributors to preventing, detecting, and mitigating cyber-attacks in the power system. In their current state, wind turbine generator systems are woefully unprepared for a coordinated and sophisticated cyber-attack. With the implementation of the internet-of-things (IoT) devices in the power control network, cyber risks have increased exponentially. In the current literature, prevention …

Zero Trust Architectures: A Comprehensive Analysis And Implementation Guide, Nathan Lynn Seymour

Electronic Theses and Dissertations Archive

As organizations navigate an increasingly complex and dynamic cyber threat landscape, the conventional paradigms of cybersecurity are being reevaluated. This thesis delves into the evolution of zero trust architectures (ZTA), tracing the origins of zero trust and providing a critical comparison with traditional cybersecurity measures. Emphasizing the imperative need for advanced security frameworks, particularly in the face of escalating threats like social engineering and ransomware attacks, this study articulates the fundamental motivations behind the adoption of zero trust principles. The core of the thesis articulates a systematic breakdown of the components and pillars constituting a zero trust architecture, explaining the …

Investigation Of Ferroelectric Switching Mechanisms In Boron-Substituted Aluminum Nitride, Mackenzie Porterfield

Electronic Theses and Dissertations Archive

In the pursuit of next-generation memory devices, ferroelectric materials provide a pathway for high-speed operation and non-volatility. The path to marketization for ferroelectric materials favors materials with elements common to the complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) production, which leads to desirability in tuning boron substituted aluminum nitride – a newly demonstrated ferroelectric with CMOS compatible composition. However, for AlBN to realize its potential, understanding and optimizing the polarization reversal process becomes necessary for further device engineering. This study investigates the role of boron in domain formation and propagation. Through first-principles calculations, we determine that introducing boron atoms along the domain boundary initiates …

The Impact Of Therapist Credentials On Perceptions Of The Psychotherapist, David Mackey Waugh

Electronic Theses and Dissertations Archive

Objective. The aim of the present study was to assess whether providing credential information about therapists from an online source would have an impact on perceptions of psychotherapists comparable to when such information is conveyed in physical settings. Method. Participants viewed two emulated psychotherapist websites, one in which credential information was included and another without these credential details. After viewing each website, participants rated the perceived skills and empathy of the therapist. Results. Analysis revealed that therapists were viewed as more expert when professional credentials were provided. Therapists were also viewed as more empathic with credential included, but only when …

Imbalance Learning Representation And Label Shift, Yuexin Wu

Electronic Theses and Dissertations Archive

This research addresses the challenges of class imbalance in unsupervised domain adaptation (UDA) and rating prediction in recommender systems. In the context of UDA, the class imbalance between source and target domains presents a significant hurdle for existing models, which tend to focus on domain-invariant representations and class-balanced data. We introduce an unsupervised reinforcement adaptation model (URAM), leveraging reinforcement learning to jointly consider feature variants and imbalanced labels across domains. In recommender systems, the issue of rating imbalance naturally arises, leading to biased predictions and suboptimal performance for tail ratings. Existing rating prediction approaches often rely on weighted cross-entropy and …

Palinopsia: The Persistence Of Vision In Time, Lesley Bragdon

Electronic Theses and Dissertations Archive

Lesley Bragdon's art aims to capture and convey her unique perception of the world. She reproduces the distorted, out-of-focus, and shadowy aspects of everyday objects that she sees, highlighting that everyone can perceive objects differently. Bragdon's artistic process involves the hybridization of materials and the transformation of found objects into mixed-media sculptures and installations. She draws inspiration from contemporary artists like Lynda Benglis and Suzanne Jackson, exploring the boundaries between painting and sculpture. The use of shadows plays a significant role in her art, adding layers of abstraction and creating visually captivating experiences. Bragdon's art is influenced by her medical …

The Role Of Religiosity In Predicting Behavioral Economic Variables And Alcohol-Related Consequences Experienced By Black Emerging Adults, Alton Joe Withers

Electronic Theses and Dissertations Archive

Psychosocial adversities increase alcohol use and consequences in emerging adults. Black Americans experience more adversities compared to other demographics and this may increase risk for misuse of alcohol. Religiosity may serve as a predictor of alcohol misuse, but little is known about longitudinal associations between alcohol misuse and religiosity in Black emerging adults (EAs). Behavioral economics (BE) posits that alcohol use is determined by the availability and price of alcohol compared to the availability and price of other reinforcements. Moreover, the value of these competing rewards is influenced by the delay of the rewards. Associations between sharply devaluing delayed outcomes …

Is Seeing The Therapist Important? Perceptions Of Therapist Empathy And Skill, Jerry Lee Lovelace

Electronic Theses and Dissertations Archive

Psychotherapists have increasingly used alternate telehealth formats for providing treatment (e.g., videoconferencing, telephone, and online chat). In some modes, therapists may not be seen clearly or even at all. The current study aimed to assess visibility’s impact on observers’ perceptions of therapists’ empathy and skill. Participants were randomly assigned to evaluate vignettes of psychotherapy sessions with differing levels of visibility: a video of the session or an audio of the session. Analyses revealed that observers’ perceptions of therapists differed by visibility condition. The study found that in the non-visible condition, female presenting therapists were perceived as less skilled and empathetic. …

Investigation Of Hyperspectral Data Unmixing And Its Impact On The Task Of Anomaly Detection, Mohammed Younis

Electronic Theses and Dissertations Archive

Hyperspectral unmixing is the process of decomposing mixed pixels into distinct spectra or endmembers. In the hyperspectral unmixing process, a linear mixture model and the Fully Constrained Least Square approach are used to estimate an abundance map, which highlights the amount of each endmember that is present in the scene. This unmixing process is essential to tasks, such as target detection, where a reference endmember is provided, and the goal is to highlight areas in the scene that correspond to that reference endmember. As the number of endmembers is important to the unmixing process, we conducted an investigation in which …

Exploring The Dimensionality Of Reading Fluency In Grade 4: Prosody And Its Role In Supporting Reading Comprehension, Hannah Anderson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations Archive

The purpose of the current study was to examine the dimensionality of prosody and its role in supporting comprehension in Grade 4 students (N = 198). Participants were administered a grade-level CBM probe and i-Ready Diagnostic, including the Vocabulary, Literary Text, and Informational Text subtests. Spectrographic analysis was used to extract the prosodic data from audio recordings of the passage reading. A comparison group of 30 adults were recruited. A four-factor measurement model was proposed, with a reading comprehension factor comprised of i-Ready subtest, two prosodic factors comprised of pitch and pausing features gathered from the grade-level passage, and a …

Evaluation Of Koopman Operator Neural Decoding Scheme, Kyle Edwards

Electronic Theses and Dissertations Archive

Neural activity correlates with a wide variety of phenomena relating to the animal originating the activity. It is possible to exploit those correlations by measuring the activity and mathematically transforming it via a so-called decoding process to determine what, physically, the activity represented. The signals measured are typically nonlinear, and though classical statistical techniques exist for handling these signals, increasingly influential methods including neural networks and the Koopman operator formalism provide new avenues to explore for handling such nonlinear problems. We propose a method of decoding utilizing a neural network representation of the Koopman operator and test it on the …

An Interacting Segment Model For The Calculation Of Nonlinear Optical Properties: Theory And Application To Peptide Sequences, Aaron R. Jones

Electronic Theses and Dissertations Archive

The aim of this thesis is to develop and refine an interacting segment model (ISM) for the accurate computational calculation of molecular electrical response properties. Traditional ab-initio quantum mechanical methods require a tremendous amount of computational resources to calculate these properties for larger molecular systems, rendering them infeasible for larger molecules. This ISM looks to address this issue, serving as a method that allows for accurate and timely calculation of properties of interest. It is found that the fits for both dipole moment and isotropic polarizability yield fantastic results when optimized against a set of ‘test molecules’, yielding errors of …

Distribution, Characteristics, And Hydrostratigraphy Of Pleistocene And Pliocene Fluvial-Terrace And Alluvial Deposits In Central And Southern Shelby County, Tennessee, Md Saddam Hossain

Electronic Theses and Dissertations Archive

This study examined Pleistocene and Pliocene fluvial-terrace and alluvial deposits in Shelby County, Tennessee, with a focus on understanding the relationships between these deposits and subsurface water flow. The Pliocene Upland Complex was identified as a high-level terrace associated with the ancestral Mississippi-Ohio River system that caps the interfluves areas throughout Shelby County. Three Pleistocene terraces were identified - the Intermediate, Hatchie, and Finley, which are found at progressively higher elevations above the modern floodplains of West Tennessee Tributaries (WTT). The Intermediate terrace shows limited distribution, mainly as paleochannels, which do not follow the current east-to-west following WTT. The Hatchie …

Paleoindian Utilization Of Allendale Chert Deposits Along The Savannah River, Hunter Blake Saunders

Electronic Theses and Dissertations Archive

Outcrops of Allendale chert, along the Savannah River, can be characterized with the use of high-resolution chert provenance data in order to study inter-quarry procurement strategies, social networks, and mobility. The thesis presents results of sourcing methods using reflectance spectroscopy. Chert sourcing is a viable technique for determining Paleo-Indian behavior in relation to the use and procurement of stone tools. Reflectance spectroscopy is a non-destructive method used in archaeology to determine the source of chert artifacts. A combination of two instruments is used in the study to quantify and separate source variability of Allendale chert utilized by Paleoindians. Reflectance spectroscopy …

Trace Analysis Of Complex Matrices Samples By Ultra Performance Liquid Chromatography Time Of Flight Mass Spectrometry, Drake Hunter Williams

Electronic Theses and Dissertations Archive

This dissertation discusses the of method development, optimization, and results of trace analysis of complex matrix samples of sodium hypochlorite solutions and environmental samples for contaminants using mass spectrometry bases methods. Sodium hypochlorite solutions are analyzed for the presence and concentration of haloacetic acids (HAAs). These HAAs are possible carcinogens to humans and regulated disinfectant byproducts. HAAs are the result of chlorination of water containing natural organic matter. The regulation of HAAs require the need to quantify and identify them as well as determine their sources. These sources could include formation by reactions or from contamination of treatment chemicals used …

A Linguistic And Historical Study Of The Relationship Between The Ancient Egyptian Particle Ḥ3 And The Future Tense Prefix ḤA In Semitic, Hagar Saeed Hassan Abdelrahman

Electronic Theses and Dissertations Archive

Coptic is the final stage of the ancient Egyptian language, which appeared fully formed in the third century CE, until Arabic gradually replaced it after the Arab conquest of Egypt in 642 CE. Despite the dominance of Arabic, Coptic remained as a spoken language in Egypt until the sixteenth century. The only remaining usage of Coptic today is confined to liturgical use in the Coptic church in Egypt. The disappearance of Coptic coincides with the formation of the Egyptian Arabic dialect, the earliest appearance of which is in a manuscript by Yusuf al-Maghribi which dates to the sixteenth century. The …

December 19, 2023 Ereporter, University Of Alabama At Birmingham

eReporter (campus newsletter)

No abstract provided.

Dreamland: America’S Immigration Lottery In An Age Of Restriction, David Abraham

Articles

No abstract provided.

Energy Efficiency And Fault Tolerance In Open Ran And Future Internet, Saish Urumkar, Byrav Ramamurthy, Sachin Sharma

Conference papers

Open Radio Access Networks (Open RAN) repre- sent a promising technological advancement within the realm of the future internet. Research efforts are currently directed towards enhancing energy efficiency and fault tolerance, which are critical aspects for both Open RAN and the future internet landscape. In the context of energy saving in Open RAN, there exists a spectrum of methods for achieving energy efficiency. These methods include the toggling of on/off states for different hardware resources such as base station units, distributed units, and radio units. Conversely, for enhancing fault tolerance in Open RAN, Software-Defined Networking (SDN) and OpenFlow based techniques …

A Broadly Reactive Antibody Targeting The N-Terminal Domain Of Sars-Cov-2 Spike Confers Fc-Mediated Protection, Lucas J Adams, Laura A Vanblargan, Zhuoming Liu, Pavlo Gilchuk, Haiyan Zhao, Rita E Chen, Saravanan Raju, Zhenlu Chong, Bradley M Whitener, Swathi Shrihari, Prashant N Jethva, Michael L Gross, James E Crowe Jr., Sean P J Whelan, Michael S Diamond, Daved H Fremont

2020-Current year OA Pubs

Most neutralizing anti-SARS-CoV-2 monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) target the receptor binding domain (RBD) of the spike (S) protein. Here, we characterize a panel of mAbs targeting the N-terminal domain (NTD) or other non-RBD epitopes of S. A subset of NTD mAbs inhibits SARS-CoV-2 entry at a post-attachment step and avidly binds the surface of infected cells. One neutralizing NTD mAb, SARS2-57, protects K18-hACE2 mice against SARS-CoV-2 infection in an Fc-dependent manner. Structural analysis demonstrates that SARS2-57 engages an antigenic supersite that is remodeled by deletions common to emerging variants. In neutralization escape studies with SARS2-57, this NTD site accumulates mutations, including …

Girls Don’T Go To School: Uncovering The Schooling Experiences Of A Tejana Growing Up On The Westside Of San Antonio, Melissa Garza

Masters Theses (Archived)

No abstract provided.

Decolonization Of The Writing Classroom: Creating Space For Decolonial Theory, Tools, Anti-Racist Pedagogy, And Methods To Improve The Emerging Bilingual Student Experience, Desiree L. Brown

Masters Theses (Archived)

In this thesis, the author addresses the colonial roots of the secondary writing classroom and the origin of standard academic English which enables strict standardized testing and writing assessment requirements that in-turn incite linguistic violence towards emerging bilingual students. The author frames her study within the framework of April Baker-Bell and Asao B. Inoue through a reflective/reflexive study of her teaching in a ninth grade writing classroom in a primarily Hispanic school district in South Texas, which is assessed by the state of Texas through STAAR. This study seeks to identify instances of linguistic violence being perpetuated in the writing …

Investigating The Relationship Between Smoking, Genomics, And Brain Imaging, Yoonhoo Chang

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

Cigarette smoking has been linked to adverse health outcomes, including several forms of cancer, respiratory and cardiovascular disease, and dementia. Despite the public health campaigns aimed at reducing tobacco use, the behavior remains prevalent, and its association with various organs is an active area of research. Recent studies showed that smoking behaviors have strong genetic contributions. Through genome-wide association studies, the genetic risk score of individuals can be created and used as a basis for more effective and precise healthcare solutions. Chapter 2 explores the creation of a polygenic risk score (PRS) for smoking cessation and its utility in two …