Digital Commons Network^™

Evaluating Taxonomic Approaches: A Comparative Study Of Educational Frameworks Applied To Mathematics Assessments, Lily Roth

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

The design of effective assessments and reporting of a student’s achievement on learning objectives are often overlooked, leaving educational stakeholders lacking the ability to create meaningful evaluations. To assist in creating substantial mathematics assessments this work seeks to answer the following research questions: ‘How can educational taxonomies be utilized to improve the design of mathematics assessments’? and ‘What are the strengths and weaknesses of applying different taxonomies onto mathematics assessments?’. The purpose of this study is to (1) develop a practical design instrument for easier identification and categorization of assessment questions within each educational taxonomy structure and (2) evaluate the …

Resource Scarcity Caused By Environmental Changes: Driving Factor In Terrorism Attacks In Afghanistan, Pakistan, Syria, Amaris Bustamante

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Climate change, resource scarcity, and terrorist attacks are ever-growing crises that disproportionately impact different states. They are crises that can impact the stability and resilience of humanity in the following decades if they are not addressed and mitigated. This study addresses the impact of resource scarcity caused by climate change that can then serve as a driving force in terrorist attacks in climate-sensitive and conflict-prone states. The objective of this mixed-methods study is to identify the correlation between climate changes that lead to resource scarcity such as rainfall and surface temperatures with terrorist attacks when taking into consideration other demographic, …

The Kids Aren’T Alright: Examining The Spatial Concentration Of Drug Crime Near Schools In Little Rock, Arkansas, Jason Neeley

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In the last two decades, violence and death stemming from drug activity has become a concern to communities across the country. Increasingly, policymakers and law enforcement agencies have sought to understand where drug activity is located, including in and around schools, and why some places are more susceptible to drug problems than others. The current study explores two related questions: (1) How do drug crimes spatially pattern around schools? and, in turn, (2) What are the neighborhood-level predictors of the concentration of drug crime? Focusing on Little Rock, Arkansas, I examine the spatial distribution of drug offenses and overdoses within …

Assessing Urban Tree Coverage Along The U.S.-Mexico Border: A Gis Analysis Of Paso Del Norte, Melanie Escobar

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

In recent years, researchers have extensively studied the spatial distribution of social demographics and urban tree canopy (UTC) in urban cities, but very few, to this date, address U.S.-Mexico border cities. To date, there is no research that assesses the distribution of urban tree canopy (UTC) in the city of El Paso, Texas, and Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua, along the U.S.- Mexico border. Leveraging advanced mapping techniques and GIS tools, the study performs comparisons between countries (Juárez vs. El Paso urbanized areas and intra-country (within each country). It compares land cover classifications, assesses variations in UTC distribution across census tracts and …

My Little Poetic/Prose Book Of Words, Sayings, And Stories In Broken Spanish And A Little Bit Of German / Mi Libro Chiquito De Poética / Prosa De Palabras, Dichos, Y Historias Español Fracturado Y Un Poquetito Alemán, Sharon Ann Lucero

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Acknowledgements

First and foremost, I would like to thank Jonathan Taylor and Sarah Thompson for the wonderful job they did in providing me with feedback. I took into consideration all their comments. Their comments aligned with Dr. Powers, and I really took a deeper look into my Spanish/English translations on whether I should have them or not. I found a happy medium for all of it. I also went back and looked at the rest of the class’s comments and made sure that I did not miss any of the details that were pointed out to me the first time …

Routing Opportunities For Commercial Crossings Between El Paso And Juarez, Marek Musil

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

This thesis explores the topic of commercial movements between the El Paso and Ciudad Juarez road networks and the implications of the possible changes in their routing. This area houses several ports of entry, which present one of the busiest commercial and personal border crossings in the whole nation. The primary focus was to evaluate the recently proposed reconstruction scenario of removing trucks from the Bridge of the Americas and study the impacts on the flows throughout the other ports. The chosen tool to support the analysis is a mesoscopic simulation software called DynusT, which is capable of modeling the …

Smart Public Transportation And Mobility Hub Design In El Paso, Jiri Vojtisek

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

This thesis explores the potential of a Smart Public Transportation concept and mobility hub design as tools to mitigate the growing trend of transportation issues, such as traffic congestion, reliance on privately owned vehicles, or unattractive public transportation. Consequently, residentsâ?? lives are negatively affected by excessive noise, air pollution, and travel delays, leading to increased safety risks, lost productivity, and a lower quality of life. Considering these challenges, the study begins by analyzing the current state of public transportation in El Paso. Next, it introduces a toolkit from the Smart City concept, followed by case studies of best practices of …

The Role Of Soft Infrastructure In Developing Sustainable Volunteer-Based Healthcare For Transient Migrants In The El Paso-Ciudad Juárez Border Region, Daniel Avitia

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Depositional Facies And Petrophysical Characterization Of The Leonardian Carbonate (Lower Clear Fork), Tex-Mex, S.E. Field, Central Basin Platform, West Texas, Seyram Nyamasekpor

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Lower Clear Fork from Tex-Mex, S.E. Field on the Central Basin Platform is a typical complex reservoir that displays high heterogeneity in lithological and petrophysical properties. The unit represents a producing reservoir succession of Leonardian platform carbonates deposited in shallow marine water during the Early Permian. The sediment of the Lower Clear Fork is composed of a mixed succession of dolomite interbedded with anhydrite, minor clay minerals, and siliciclastics. The high heterolithic nature of the reservoir makes efficient recovery of hydrocarbons difficult. This situation requires an understanding of the variability in depositional facies in terms of mineralogy, depositional textures …

Engaging Students In Learning Music Theory Fundamentals And Preparing For College Level Music Theory, Marissa Aronson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The goal of this thesis is to provide teachers resources to prepare students for college-level music theory by using the keyboard. By providing visualization of patterns, the keyboard provides a superior tool to create a smooth transition between pre-college and college-level music theory instruction. In search of easing the passage between these levels, I interviewed numerous piano teachers who provided suggestions on how they include the keyboard to teach theory. After the interviews, I compared piano lesson theory books and college theory textbooks to compare their approaches. To assist with any gaps found in the theory books, I provide some …

Migration And Breeding Ecology Of King Rails (Rallus Elegans) In Southeast Arkansas, Jessica Schmit

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

King Rails (Rallus elegans) are a secretive marsh bird species of conservation concern in Arkansas. Freddie Black Choctaw West WMA in southeast Arkansas has multiple confirmed pairs of breeding King Rails and offered an opportunity to investigate King Rail migration ecology, as well as nesting ecology and nest site selection. In Chapter 1, we determined migratory status (resident vs. migratory) and described seasonal movement. To do this, we captured and outfitted 23 birds with Argos GPS tags to track migration patterns throughout the season. We found that most of the population did not make long distance migrations but instead were …

Guaraní Sexuality And Contestations Over The Old Way Of Being, Robert Miles Berry

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The Jesuits in seventeenth century Guairá attempted to shift the sin of adultery and polygyny away from Guaraní men, and onto Guaraní women in their process of evangelization in Paraguay. The Jesuits did so because Guaraní men, as influential patriarchs within the missions, would revolt against the Jesuits or flee the Jesuit missions in response to Jesuit indoctrination that denounced the practice of polygyny. This is evident through two works of the Jesuit Antonio Ruiz de Montoya: one lexical, the Tesoro, and the other narrative, the Conquista. Montoya was directly involved in the founding and maintenance of the Guaraní missions, …

Parsing The Plains: Placing Emporia, Kansas In The Great Plains Midwest, Joseph Noce

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This thesis examines the formation of a region that can be called the Great Plains Midwest. It shows this formation through the city of Emporia, Kansas, which grew in tandem with the region. The thesis also examines Emporia as a case study of the cycle of birth, growth, and stagnation visible across the Great Plains between the 1850s and 1910s. This era traces Emporia from its humble beginnings to a period of population stagnation that followed the Panic of 1893. Three chapters cover Emporia’s agriculture, railroads, and colleges and universities, comparing each to the same elsewhere in both the midwestern …

Evaluation Of The Extent Of Floods In 2022 In Different Land Cover And Land Use Classes In Sindh Province, Pakistan Using Sentinel-1 And Sentinel-2 Imageries, Alina Shrestha

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Floods are one of the most frequent and most devastating natural disasters, which cause widespread destruction and pose significant risks to human life, infrastructure, and the environment. Advancement in remote sensing technologies and methodologies have demonstrated their efficacy in disaster-related applications, such as the detection, monitoring, and analysis of floods. This study explores the utilization of Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) and optical imagery for flood extent mapping and studying the extent of flood over various land cover and land use classes in Pakistan's Sindh province, utilizing the cloud computing power of Google Earth Engine. The change detection method identified extensive …

Genomic Signatures Of Strawberry Domestication And Diversification, Zhen Fan, Vance M Whitaker

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Cultivated strawberry (Fragaria × ananassa) has a brief history of less than 300 yr, beginning with the hybridization of octoploids Fragaria chiloensis and Fragaria virginiana. Here we explored the genomic signatures of early domestication and subsequent diversification for different climates using whole-genome sequences of 289 wild, heirloom, and modern varieties from two major breeding programs in the United States. Four nonadmixed wild octoploid populations were identified, with recurrent introgression among the sympatric populations. The proportion of F. virginiana ancestry increased by 20% in modern varieties over initial hybrids, and the proportion of F. chiloensis subsp. pacifica rose from 0% to …

Survival Disparities In Non-Hispanic Black And White Cervical Cancer Patients Vary By Histology And Are Largely Explained By Modifiable Factors, Calen W Kucera, Nicole P Chappell, Chunqiao Tian, Michael T Richardson, Christopher M Tarney, Chad A Hamilton, John K Chan, Daniel S Kapp, Charles A Leath, Yovanni Casablanca, Christine Rojas, Collin A Sitler, Lari Wenzel, Ann Klopp, Nathaniel L Jones, Rodney P Rocconi, John H Farley, Timothy D O'Connor, Craig D Shriver, Nicholas W Bateman, Thomas P Conrads, Neil T Phippen, G Larry Maxwell, Kathleen M Darcy

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Purpose: We investigated racial disparities in survival by histology in cervical cancer and examined the factors contributing to these disparities.

Methods: Non-Hispanic Black and non-Hispanic White (hereafter known as Black and White) patients with stage I-IV cervical carcinoma diagnosed between 2004 and 2017 in the National Cancer Database were studied. Survival differences were compared using Cox modeling to estimate hazard ratio (HR) or adjusted HR (AHR) and 95% confidence interval (CI). The contribution of demographic, socioeconomic and clinical factors to the Black vs White differences in survival was estimated after applying propensity score weighting in patients with squamous cell carcinoma …

Grading Climate Action Plans In The Midwest, Megan Baker

Department of Environmental Studies: Undergraduate Student Theses

As agreed upon by international climate scientists, decarbonization in the American Midwest is critical to keeping the planet below the 1.5C increase in global temperature from pre-industrial levels. However, most previous research that evaluates climate action plans (CAPs) to find their weaknesses and provide policy recommendations neglects this crucial region of the United States. To fill this gap, this paper replicates Deetjen et al.’s (2018) review of CAPs in 29 US cities by applying their CAP rubric to 11 Midwestern cities. The results of both quantitative analysis were used to analyze the differences in plans in the Midwest versus the …

Iraqi Education Past And Present: The Role Of Policymakers And Their Ideological Background, Hadi T. Pir

Dissertations and Doctoral Documents, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2023–

The history of Iraqi education unmistakably illustrates how policymakers have consistently operated within the same worldview since 1920. Despite apparent differences among Iraqis in terms of race, religion, sect, geography, and social and tribal norms, a shared worldview has emerged, which I term the Traditional Iraqi Paradigm (TIP). This shared worldview comprises a set of interconnected postulates. The divergence among Iraqi groups lies not in the postulates themselves but in how they translate these postulates into actions and behaviors. These translations have become historical, institutional, and psychological aspects of reality contributing to the political, social, and educational differences, conflicts, and …

Inviting The Public Into Wildlife Research: Does Participation In Research Projects That Facilitate Interactions With Local Species Change Feelings Of Connection?, Seth Gibbons

All Dissertations

For many reasons, humans are less connected to nature. Research shows that people who feel more connected to nature are more likely to have pro-environmental intentions. One possible way to strengthen the human-nature connection is to involve the public in wildlife research, exposing them to local wildlife in a way that highlights science. This dissertation investigates two such projects, the 2019 Clemson Barred Owl Project and the Trout in the Classroom (TIC) program, to understand the effects of interacting with local species through wildlife research.

Interviews were conducted with participants and the lead researcher of the Clemson Barred Owl Project …

Students Willing And Ready To Motivate To Graduate: An Alternative Pathway To Graduation, Laura Lusk

All Dissertations

With the continual decline of high school graduation rates in South Carolina, there is a need for high schools to look at alternative pathways to graduation. Many of the current alternatives offered to students remove them from the high school setting or interactions with the student body. This study focused on an alternative pathway to graduation, Students Willing and Ready to Motivate to Graduate (SWARM), offered at the high school during the regular school day to students in jeopardy of not graduating. This inclusive approach eliminated transportation barriers and access issues. Students attended school regularly, but one to four classes …

Illinois State University, One Hundred And Sixty-Fifth Annual Commencement, May 2024, Illinois State University

Commencement Programs

Illinois State University
One Hundred and Sixty-Fifth Annual Commencement
May 2024

Toward A Politics Of Care: Southeast Asian Refugee Organizing, Kinship, Care, And Reunion, James Huỳnh, Victoria Huỳnh, Mads Lê, Sheila Sy

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

From a critical refugee studies orientation, our article redefines care within the context of myriad forms of state violence impacting Southeast Asian post-war refugee communities. Research reveals how harm is compounded at every step of Southeast Asian refugee journeys: war, forced displacement, resettlement, family separation, inherited health conditions, and generational trauma. How do we reckon with refugee trauma without conceding to it as an unchangeable fact of our lives? What knowledge might we gain by attending to the everyday work of survival in refugee communities? To answer these questions, the authors conceptualize care through (a) abolitionist organizing, (b) queer kinship …

Big Infrastructure And/As Flexibility: The Sites Reservoir Story, Sarah Priscilla Randle, David Linville

Research Collection College of Integrative Studies

If constructed as planned, the Sites Reservoir Project will add roughly 1.85 billion m3 (1.5 million acre-feet) of storage capacity to California's water system. Per project proponents, however, the reservoir complex should be understood as infrastructure that would not only increase available water supply but also provide the state's water network with an infusion of a vital systemic quality: flexibility. This article considers such discourses of flexibility through a case study of the Sites project, grounded in analysis of planning documents, government, think tank, and NGO reports, and media coverage from outlets across California. The resulting account shows how the …

Ꮝꮘꮝꮩꮝꮣꭲ Ꭴᏸꭷꭲ Ꮢꭹ Ꭲꮎꭸ Ꭱꭿ: Reclamation Stories Of Indigenous Graduate Students At A Native American Serving Nontribal Institution, Sky B. Wildcat

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The experiences of Indigenous graduate students in higher education are underrecognized in research and scholarship. Similarly, the experiences of Indigenous students, undergraduate or graduate, within Native American Serving NonTribal Institutions (NASNTIs) are largely excluded from research and scholarship. Although NASNTI designation is only dependent on the Indigenous undergraduate student population at an institution, the stories shared through this research signify the importance of considering Indigenous graduate students experiences at a NASNTI. The conceptual framework consisted of four core foundations as outlined by Kovach (2021), including ᎦᏚᏩ (ga-du-wa) knowledge, relational accountability, the Indigenous community of the NASNTI, and the situating of …

Collateral Consequences: The Effects Of Justice Processing For Violations Of Drug Laws In New York City, John K. Roman, Gregory Haugan, Benjamin Schapiro, Sofia Rodriguez

Publications and Research

As part of the NYC Police Reform and Reinvention Collaborative, the Mayor’s Office of Criminal Justice partnered with the Research and Evaluation Center at John Jay College and the National Opinion Research Center (NORC) at the University of Chicago to examine economic factors related to drug-related crimes and arrests. Focusing on Task 84 of the Reform Initiative Tracker, NORC researchers analyzed public data to explore how neighborhood-level economic indicators, such as property values and tax assessments, correlate with drug-related criminal justice contacts. The study supports ongoing efforts to implement and monitor reforms across New York City.

Effect Of The Age Of Garments Used Under Real-Life Conditions On Microfibre Release From Polyester And Cotton Clothing, Andreia N. Fernandes, Larissa Z. Lara, Francesca De Falco, Andrew Turner, Richard C. Thompson

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences

The release of microfibres from fabrics during laundering represents an important source of plastic and natural microfibres to aquatic environments. Garment age - how long the garment has been used - could be a key factor influencing the rate of release, yet most studies of microfibre shedding have only assessed newly manufactured products. To this end, we quantified microfibre release during laundering in domestic washing machines from polyester (PES) and cotton garments (n = 38) used in real-life conditions for periods between 1 and 31 years with different use intensities. In addition, to better understand the factors involved in microfibre …

Biochar Improves Fertility In Waste Derived Manufactured Soils, But Not Resilience To Climate Change, Jennifer M. Rhymes, Daniel Evans, Giuliano Laudone, H. Kate Schofield, Ellen Fry, Mark F. Fitzsimons

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences

We present a soil manufactured from waste materials, which could replace the use of peat and topsoil in plant production and reduce the pressure on natural soil resources. We tested the effect of the manufactured soil on ecosystem functions and microbial communities with and without plants present, and with and without biochar addition (Experiment 1). The resilience of the soil in response to drought and flooding, and also the effect of biochar was also tested (Experiment 2). Biochar increased soil C and N regardless of plant presence and negated the effect of the plant on soil peroxidase enzyme activity. The …

An Intelligent Academic Advising System For Course Recommendation Using Large Language Models, Malika Maya Iratni

Theses

Academic advising is an important resource for students, especially in higher education, in order to guide them to make the best possible decisions to improve their overall academic performance and overall academic journey. With the increasing number of students joining these institutions each year, traditional advising becomes a time-consuming and inefficient process that can leave students discouraged, and advisors overwhelmed. Therefore, there is a need to develop intelligent advising systems that make use of the recent advancements in technology, to support the advising process, and increase overall student satisfaction. In this work, an academic advising model that uses Recommender Systems …

Biomass Estimation Of Mature Mangrove Trees In The Uae Using Spaceborne Remote Sensing Techniques, Yasmine Ashraf Heikal

Theses

Mangrove forest ecosystems play an essential role in diminishing the effects of climate change caused by the increase in carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Estimating mangrove forest aboveground biomass (AGB) and hence aboveground carbon (AGC) can assist in decision-making for conservation, sustainable use, and protection of these forests. The goal of this research project was to map the AGB of mangrove forests along the coasts of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) with the aid of Landsat-8-9 satellite imagery data acquired in September 2023. 12 AGB estimation models were developed based on the combination of in situ measurements and Landsat-8-9 derived …

Tungiasis Among Children In Kenya Is Associated With Poor Nutrition Status, Absenteeism, Poor School Performance And High Impact On Quality Of Life, Lynne Elson, Christopher Kamau, Sammy Koech, Christopher Muthama, George Gachomba, Erastus Sinoti, Elwyn Chondo, Eliud Mburu, Miriam Wakio, Jimmy Lore, Marta Maia, Ifedayo Adetifa, Benedict Orindi, Phillip Bejon, Ulrike Fillinger

All Peer-Reviewed Publications

Tungiasis is a highly neglected tropical skin disease caused by the sand flea, Tunga pene-trans. The flea burrows into the skin inducing a strong inflammatory response, leading to pain and mobility restrictions with potential impacts on quality of life. Few countries imple-ment control efforts and there are few data on the impact of the disease to support policy decisions. We conducted a survey to determine the impact of tungiasis among primary school children across nine counties of Kenya. A total of 10,600 pupils aged 8 to 14 years were randomly selected from 97 primary schools and examined for tungiasis. For …