Digital Commons Network^™

Pharmaceutical Stock Prices Around Medicare Part D Expansion, Spencer Powell

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

On January 1, 2006 Medicare part D expanded, giving prescription coverage to many Americans. This event offers an interesting question regarding market efficiency, specifically because Medicare expansion was introduced into congress as far back as 1999. Because Medicare part D affected pharmaceutical drug coverage, this study focuses specifically on securities in the pharmaceutical industry. Following an efficient market hypothesis, we would expect to see significant abnormal returns in the post event window, anticipating the legislations effect on demand within the industry. Results showed significant abnormal returns in post-event window, but not in the pre-event window. The returns in the post-event …

Taphonomy Of Late Jurassic (Tithonian) Morrison Formation Apatosaurus Sp. Vertebrae Found Associated With Teeth From Allosaurus Sp. And Ceratosaurus Sp., And Body Size Extrapolation From The Associated Theropod Teeth., Greg C. Agyan

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

An Apatosaurus sp. locality from Dinosaur National Monument designated DNM-15 was excavated in 1985, and associated with two Allosaurus teeth and one Ceratosaurus tooth that were near one of the caudal vertebrae. The Ceratosaurus tooth was buried between an overlying rib and that same caudal vertebra. The caudal vertebrae of the DNM-15 Apatosaurus were intact and articulated, but the anterior skeleton was mostly absent, with a row of articulated sacral vertebrae in close association with a femur. Two other Allosaurus teeth were reported near the preserved ilium of the Apatosaurus, but they could not be located in the collections. …

Teaching Chinese As A Second Language In A Supportive Student-Centered Environment, Linqi Peng

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

This portfolio is a compilation that includes the author’s research, thoughts, and opinions while studying in the Master of Second Language Teaching (MSLT) program at Utah State University (USU). It represents the author’s reflections and perspectives as a MSLT graduate student and as a graduate instructor who taught Chinese as a Second Language courses to undergraduates at beginners’ levels.

Three sections are included in the portfolio. It begins with the author’s teaching perspectives, including professional environment, teaching philosophy statement, and professional development through teaching observations. In the second section, two research papers demonstrate her research interests in the practices of …

Uplink Throughput Prediction And Device Geolocation In Cellular Communication System Using Machine Learning Methodology, Engin Eyceyurt

Theses and Dissertations

Continuously increasing the number of interconnecting devices, cloud services, and social media usage require enormous amounts of mobile data. Due to the rapid increase in cellular data demand, accurate cellular data prediction has become more critical. The increase in the number of mobile subscribers raised the issue of whether users' location can be determined. The most important uses of geolocation technology are emergencies and security purposes. In addition to emergency and security affairs, geolocation technology can decrease cellular network maintenance costs. Mobile network systems have become highly complex with a large number of parameter and feature add-ons. Along with the …

Schur Complement Algebra And Operations With Applications In Multivariate Functions, Realizations, And Representations, Anthony Dean Stefan

Theses and Dissertations

We provide a new approach to the following multidimensional realizability problem: Can an arbitrary square matrix, whose entries are from the field of multivariate rational functions over the complex numbers, be realized as a Schur complement of a linear matrix pencil with symmetries? To answer this problem, we prove the main theorem of M. Bessmertny˘ı,“On realizations of rational matrix functions of several complex variables,” in Vol. 134 of Oper. Theory Adv. Appl., pp. 157-185, Birkh¨auser Verlag, Basel, 2002 and have included additional symmetries as an extension to his results. Furthermore, we were so thorough in our constructive approach that we …

Machine Learning Approach To Predict Mortality Rates Based On Hospital Clinical Data, Rebecca Smith

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis integrates fundamental concepts from conventional statistics with the more explanatory, algorithmic, and computational techniques offered by machine learning to predict early mortality risk of surgical patients. Well-known classification methods, including Random Forest, Decision Trees, Nearest Neighbor, Stochastic Gradient Descent, Logistic Regression, Na¨ıve Bayes, Bayes Network, Neural Networks, and Support Vector Machines, are utilized to predict mortality risk of elective general surgical patients treated between January 2005 and September 2010 at the Cleveland Clinic [33]. Clinical factors include surgery type, age, gender, race, BMI, underlying chronic conditions, surgical risk indices, surgical timing predictors, the 30-day mortality, and in-hospital complication …

Feminist Scripts For Punishment, India Thusi

Articles by Maurer Faculty

Review of:

THE FEMINIST WAR ON CRIME: THE UNEXPECTED ROLE OF WOMEN’S LIBERATION IN MASS INCARCERATION. By Aya Gruber. Oakland, C.A.: University of California Press. 2020. Pp. xii, 288. $29.95.

Beauty And Lifestyle Subscription Services: A Modern Retailing Format For The Vigilante Collaborative Consumption Consumer, Melisa Spilinek

Department of Textiles, Merchandising and Fashion Design: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Advancements in technology and ease of use of online shopping via phone applications (apps) and subscription services have fundamentally changed how consumers shop. Now more than ever, consumers are turning to time-saving technological tools that are subscription services. Subscription services provide a multitude of benefits to consumers and contribute to collaborative consumption in nearly every product and service category from coffee to apparel. To investigate beauty and lifestyle subscription services and collaborative consumption this study will utilize a mixed methods convergent design to analyze user experience including price sensitivity, subscription service apps and ease of use. Anticipated contributions to the …

Technology Leadership Qualities In Secondary School Principals In Nebraska Who Support Student-Led Social Media Teams, Jill M. Johnson

Department of Educational Administration: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

This study addresses secondary school principals in Nebraska who are dealing with the negative ramifications of their students’ social media interactions. To combat the problem, this study sought to identify the technology leadership qualities possessed by secondary school principals in Nebraska who support student-led social media teams. A purposeful sampling of six secondary school principals in Nebraska, who have all been practicing principals for at least three years, engaged in individual semi-structured interviews via Zoom in January 2021. The primary research question was: What technology leadership qualities are possessed by secondary school principals in Nebraska who support student-led social media …

Redesigning Schools Of Social Work Into Schools Of Social Work And Social Justice: Opportunities For Civic And Organizational Renewal In A Justice Reform Environment, Bowen Mcbeath, Michael J. Austin

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

This paper explores the re-envisioning of a school of social work into a School of Social Work and Social Justice. The thought experiment identifies how a school can meet its educational and social justice mission in response to the historic crises of 2020. An outgrowth of the aspirational strategic vision statement is the proposed strengthening of democratic learning spaces involving students and faculty members, better alignment of school curricular reform with human service workforce dynamics and social work practice needs, and an emphasis on culturally responsive leadership. The overall intention is to identify opportunities for social work schools and departments …

An Intron Variant Of The Gli Family Zinc Finger 3 (Gli3) Gene Differentiates Resistance Training-Induced Muscle Fiber Hypertrophy In Younger Men, Christopher G. Vann, Robert W. Morton, Christopher B. Mobley, Ivan J. Vechetti, Brian K. Ferguson, Cody T. Haun, Shelby C. Osburn, Casey L. Sexton, Carlton D. Fox, Matthew A. Romero, Paul A. Roberson, Sara Y. Oikawa, Chris Mcglory, Kaelin C. Young, John J. Mccarthy, Stuart M. Phillips, Michael D. Roberts

Department of Nutrition and Health Sciences: Faculty Publications

We examined the association between genotype and resistance training-induced changes (12 wk) in dual x-ray energy absorptiometry (DXA)-derived lean soft tissue mass (LSTM) as well as muscle fiber cross-sectional area (fCSA; vastus lateralis; n = 109; age = 22 ± 2 y, BMI = 24.7 ± 3.1 kg/m2). Over 315 000 genetic polymorphisms were interrogated from muscle using DNA microarrays. First, a targeted investigation was performed where single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) identified from a systematic literature review were related to changes in LSTM and fCSA. Next, genome-wide association (GWA) studies were performed to reveal associations between novel SNP targets with …

Numerical Modeling For Patch Antennas, Luis Mario Bres Castro

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis will focus on creating a number of designs that will be tested in a simulation environment using an electromagnetic solver software called Computer Simulation Technology(CST) as well as we are going to develop our own model to be able to simulate more complex design due to the limitations of CST licensing. The simulations will help us optimize the parameters of gain-frequency allocation for future projects of antenna building. After doing a parametric study of a patch antenna we will develop a model for the return signal of a signal patch antenna, we will present four potential models. The …

Census Tracts, Racial Separation, And The Landscape Of Higher Education, Aaron Scholl

College of Business: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

This dissertation centers on research at the intersection of labor, public, and urban economics. Chapter 1 details the role, process, and history of census tract delineation prior to each Decennial Census, and investigates short- and long-run implications of neighborhoods that receive further delineation, or become “split”. Using a difference-in-differences empirical design, I exploit Decennial Censuses from 1980 to 2010 to find that “split” census tracts increase in their proportion of Black residents and these effects persist decades. Further evidence suggests that the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit program may play a role in concentrating residents in areas with greater census tract …

Jailhouse Immigration Screening, Eisha Jain

Duke Law Journal

Within the past decade, U.S. interior immigration enforcement has shifted away from the street and into the jailhouse. The rationale behind jailhouse screening is to target enforcement efforts on those who fall within federal removal priorities. This Article shows how a program undertaken with the stated aim of targeting immigration enforcement has had precisely the opposite effect: it has massively expanded the reach of immigration enforcement and created extended carceral treatment within the criminal justice system based on suspected immigration status. This approach, in turn, leads to removals that lack adequate process, are inaccurate, or that reflect underlying racial biases …

Regulation And The Geography Of Inequality, Ganesh Sitaraman, Morgan Ricks, Christopher Serkin

Duke Law Journal

We live in an era of widening geographic inequality. Around the country, the spread between economically and culturally thriving places and those that are struggling has been increasing. “Superstar” cities like New York, San Francisco, Boston, and Atlanta continue to attract talent and grow, while the economies of other cities and rural areas are left behind. Troublingly, escalating geographic inequality in the United States has arrived hand in hand with serious economic, social, and political problems. Areas that are left behind have not only failed to keep up with their thriving peers; in many ways, they have stagnated and seen …

Prospective Predictors Of Receiving Disclosures Of Intimate Partner Violence And Sexual Assault Among College Students, Christina M. Dardis, Katie R. Davin, Lindsey M. Rodriguez, Emily R. Dworkin, Katie M. Edwards, Sarah E. Ullman, Emily A. Waterman

Department of Educational Psychology: Faculty Publications

Objective: Previous research has indicated that many undergraduates receive disclosures of sexual assault and intimate partner violence (IPV) from their peers; however, much of this research has been cross-sectional. The present study assessed the extent to which demographic characteristics and victimization history predicted whether participants received disclosures over the subsequent 6 months. Directional hypotheses assessed whether psychological symptoms and attitudes predicted, or were consequences of, disclosures at follow-up.

Method: College students (n = 867) from a broader treatment intervention study completed pretest (Time 1) and 6-month follow-up surveys (Time 2).

Results: Individuals who reported new disclosures at follow-up (56%) were …

Industry Funding Scheme Regulations: A Review Of Operation And Effectiveness, May 2021, Department Of Primary Industries And Regional Development, Western Australia

Biosecurity published reports

Section 147 of the Biosecurity and Agriculture Management Act 2007 requires the Minister for Agriculture and Food to carry out a review of the operation and effectiveness of any regulations made for the purposes of establishing an Industry Funding Scheme (IFS) every five years.

In 2010, regulations establishing three IFSs commenced to address pest and disease threats relevant to Western Australia’s broadacre and pastoral cropping and livestock sectors. This report documents the second fifth-year anniversary statutory review of the following regulations:

• Biosecurity and Agriculture Management Industry Funding Scheme (Cattle) Regulations 2010

• Biosecurity and Agriculture Management Industry Funding Scheme …

Urgently Seeking Efficiency And Sustainability Of Clinical Trials In Global Health, Jay J H. Park, Rebecca F. Grais, Monica Taljaard, Etheldreda Nakimuli-Mpungu, Fyezah Jehan, Jean B. Nachega, Nathan Ford, Denis Xavier, Andre P. Kengne, Zulfiqar Ahmed Bhutta

Department of Paediatrics and Child Health

This paper shows the scale of global health research and the context in which we frame the subsequent papers in the Series. In this Series paper, we provide a historical perspective on clinical trial research by revisiting the 1948 streptomycin trial for pulmonary tuberculosis, which was the first documented randomised clinical trial in the English language, and we discuss its close connection with global health. We describe the current state of clinical trial research globally by providing an overview of clinical trials that have been registered in the WHO International Clinical Trial Registry since 2010. We discuss challenges with current …

Algorithms For Algorithms: Teaching Problem-Solving In Computer Science, James Riswick-Estelle

Theses and Dissertations

Increased demand from society for computer scientists and software engineers has placed considerable stress on university-based computer science and engineering programs. Given technology's central role in society, the education of those developing and maintaining that technology is critical. Behavior-based teaching methods may assist in addressing increased demand on universities and improve the quality of education they provide. The present study included two experiments of non-concurrent multiple baseline design. The experiments included 29 total participants to evaluate different algorithm-writing teaching methods at the undergraduate level. Algorithms describe a problem's key features and outline the step-by-step process required for solving that particular …

Measuring Quality Of Virtual Event: Scale Development And Validation, Sung-Eun Kim

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The unprecedented global pandemic caused by COVID-19 has led to a critical reconsideration of the way humans work and live. In turn, true paradigm shifts are arising across diverse industries based on remote and online communication. Undoubtedly, traditional in-person events are transforming into virtual events through more innovative platforms and safer experiences. The market for virtual events is considerably expanding and promising; thereby, the demand for research on the nature and dynamics of virtual events is increasingly growing. However, research on virtual events and virtual event quality (VEQual) is still in its infancy and has lagged behind, resulting in a …

"Neither Believer Nor Infidel" Dialogic Portraits Of Agnostic And Pragmatic Methodologies In Moby-Dick And Clarel, Matthias Overos

Masters Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

Much scholarship is dedicated to Melville’s religious themes, and other scholarship carefully analyzes the innovative formal techniques used by Melville, such as biblical allusion, digressive essays, and philosophical musings imbedded in fiction. However, religious analysis often turns to biographical interpretations of Melville’s own beliefs, and formal analysis tends to highlight Melville’s idiosyncrasies rather than determine their function. This thesis uses the Bakhtinian concepts of dialogism and polyphony to show that Melville’s poetic techniques create open texts, allowing readers to freely engage with multiple religious views that are equally valid, though not equally beneficial. Anticipating the methodologies of agnosticism and pragmatism, …

Image Analysis Of Charged Bimodal Colloidal Systems In Microgravity., Adam J. Cecil

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Colloids are suspensions of two or more phases and have been topics of research for advanced, tunable materials for decades. Stabilization of colloids is typically attributed to thermodynamic mechanisms; however, recent studies have identified transport or entropic mechanisms that can potentially stabilize a thermodynamically unstable colloidal system. In this study, suspensions of silsesquioxane microparticles and zirconia nanoparticles were dispersed in a nitric acid solution and allowed to aggregate for 8-12 days in microgravity aboard the International Space Station. The suspensions were subsequently imaged periodically at 2.5x magnification. Due to the inadequacy of existing image analysis programs, the python package “Colloidspy” …

Improving Student Success And Engagement In Virtual And Hybrid Classrooms., Sydney Fogo

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The following thesis examines virtual classes from the University of Louisville in the Fall 2020 semester to discover points of weakness relative to keeping students engaged in online courses. Three surveys were taken by a select group of participants over the course of the fall semester in order to collect student opinion on specific classes. Interviews were held with a subset of students from the group of participants and also with professors who taught the study’s participants in the fall of 2020. Their responses and conversations were used to determine possible areas of improvement for virtual classes. This information was …

Religiosity, Outgroup Contact, Postconventional Religious Reasoning, And Their Associations With Christians' Prejudice Against Sexual And Gender Minorities., Lucas Huckaby

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Over the last few decades there has been a resurgence of work investigating topics around religion and spirituality (R/S), with the majority of the literature demonstrating associations with positive outcome variables. However, R/S factors have also shown significant relationships with some negative outcomes, most notably prejudice towards sexual and gender minorities (SGM). Following the call of researchers, this study investigates the hypothesized positive relationship between postconventional religious reasoning (PRR), defined as an individual’s ability to engage in critical thinking around R/S ideas while also demonstrating increased perspective-taking, along with other known covariates of prejudice against SGM (religiosity, outgroup contact) to …

Annealing Of Encapsulated Heavy Metals From Brine Water Utilizing Microwave Enabled Sol-Gel Process, Adam Michael Flynn

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Various waste encapsulation strategies have been investigated to solidify and stabilize heavy metal wastewater for proper long-term storage. This work aims to enhance a method of novel sol-gel encapsulation of heavy metals from mock brine waters using tetramethyl orthosilicate with the addition of an annealing step at various temperatures in order to reduce leaching of metals from the silica monoliths when exposed to water. The metals tested for encapsulation and leaching were mercury (II) chloride, potassium dichromate, sodium selenite, boric acid, cadmium chloride, and copper (II) acetate. The annealing of the silica monoliths led to an increased degree of for …

Air Traffic Controllers’ Occupational Stress And Performance In The Future Air Traffic Management, Hui Wang

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

As demand for unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) operations increases, it is vital to understand its effects on air traffic controllers and the safety of the national airspace system. This study’s primary purpose is to determine how UAVs that operate in controlled airspace would influence air traffic controllers’ occupational stress and performance. In a within-subject experimental research design, 24 participants sampled from a university’s undergraduate Air Traffic Management (ATM) program completed three different air traffic control (ATC) scenarios on an en route ATC simulation system. The degree of UAV automation and control were varied in each scenario. The participants’ stress levels, …

Thruster Communication For Subsurface Environments; Turning Waste Noise Into Useful Data, Stephen Cronin

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

Acoustic communication serves as one of the primary means of wirelessly communicating underwater. Whereas much of the developments in the field of wireless communication have focused on radio frequency technology, water highly absorbs radio waves rendering the link not feasible for most all subsurface operations. While acoustic links have enabled new capabilities for systems operating in this challenging environment, it has yet to reach the commodity availability of radio systems, meaning that an entire class of small, low-cost systems have been unable to make use of these links. The systems in question are primarily autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs), as they …

Computational Investigation Of Perforated Plate Film Cooling Utilizing Conjugate Heat Transfer, Jonathan Sippel

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

The accuracy of modern state-of-practice computational fluid dynamics approaches in predicting the cooling effectiveness of a perforated plate film-cooling arrangement is evaluated in ANSYS Fluent. A numerical investigation is performed using the Reynolds Averaged Navier Stokes equations and compared to NASA Glenn’s available Turbulent Heat Flux 4 experimental measurements collected as a part of the Transformational Tools and Technologies Project. A multiphysics approach to model heat conduction through the solid geometry is shown to offer significant improvements in wall temperature and film effectiveness prediction accuracy over the standard adiabatic wall approach. Additionally, localized gradient-based grid adaption is analyzed using the …

Analysis Of Ship Airwakes Using Modal Decomposition, Nicholas Zhu

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

The three-dimensional, unsteady, and turbulent airwake produced by a scaled model of a generic Navy ship (Simple Frigate Shape No. 2) was investigated in a low-speed wind tunnel. Stereoscopic, time-resolved particle image velocimetry (TR-PIV) measurements were made at six different crosswise planes over the flight deck region of the ship model, with and without the effect of a simulated atmospheric boundary layer (ABL).

Spatiotemporal analyses of the TR-PIV measurements were performed using modal decomposition, and the modes were decomposed further based on the frequency contents of their time dynamics. This approach allowed an inspection of the individual scales of the …

Adaptive Control For Nonlinear, Time Varying Systems, John Zelina

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

It is common for aerospace systems to exhibit nonlinear, time varying dynamics. This thesis investigates the development of adaptive control laws to stabilize and control a class of nonlinear, time varying systems. Direct adaptive control architectures are implemented in order to compensate for time varying dynamics that could, for example, be caused by varying inertia resulting from fuel slosh or settling in a tank. The direct adaptive controller can also respond to external disturbances and unmodeled or nonlinear dynamics. Simulation results are presented for a prototype system that consists of two rotating tanks with time varying inertia due to the …