Digital Commons Network^™

Program Evaluation: Utilizing Health Department’S Community Health Needs Assessment Data To Improve Emergency Preparedness Plans, Kathleen Gottschalk

Capstone Experience: Master of Public Health

Public health officials conducting emergency response plans must know how to easily identify the vulnerable populations in their community or jurisdiction. It is beneficial for access and functional needs appendices to include information and resources directed at the identified vulnerable groups before an emergency event to improve health outcomes. Community Health Needs Assessments (CHNA) can provide population-level statistics and information needed to easily identify vulnerable or at-risk groups. This report aims to evaluate the use of the CHNA data to guide the development of inclusive emergency response plans that account for vulnerable populations in local health department jurisdictions. The 2021 …

Motivating Factors For Murder With Rape Of Minor Girls In India: A Study Using Systematic Content Analysis, Dayanand Sundaravadivelu

All Dissertations

Gender-related homicides of young women and minor girls have reached alarming proportions in India. The 2020 crime statistics reported 1,582 homicides of children, with 119 (7.5%) minor victims raped and murdered. However, no empirical studies address the motives nor offer incident-based details of the murders and rape/gang-rape of minors. The current study used systematic content analysis of news media sources published in India. The search included five primary print media—The Times of India, Hindustan Times, The Hindu, The Indian Express, and The New Indian Express, published in English and reported from 2017 to 2018. The search also included digital news …

New Materialism, Agential Realism, And The Veteran-As-Patient Experience: Virtual Healthcare Space In Action, Luciana Maria Herman

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Veterans often access healthcare services through the Veterans Affairs (VA) website, though not all veterans have the same experiences or success rates. This study sought to understand the nature of the veteran-as-patient experience accessing healthcare via www.va.gov. The purpose of this dissertation study was to explore the rhetoricity (i.e., situational and contextual dependence and propensity to affect action) of virtual healthcare space and how it impacts patient participation for veterans seeking healthcare through the Veterans Affairs (VA) healthcare website. Through a mixed-methods study, I learned how www.va.gov functions rhetorically as a non-human actor, posing challenges to and facilitating usersâ?? navigation …

The Levant: Climate Change’S Effects On Domestic And Foreign Security Policy, Mary Mckenna Kump

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

This project applies a comparative analysis of climate effects on security perspectives in the Levant (Israel, Palestine, Jordan, and Lebanon) with evidence from historical events and modern processes. In other words, how do the effects of climate change threaten states’ core national security interests? What areas of the system are likely to be impacted by climate effects? Researchers project that climate change will affect current and future global conditions, so how does it impact how states perceive the environment in relation to their national security interests? To examine these questions, I have developed a relatively informal cause-and-effect relationship between climate …

What Are The Relationships Between Corporate Training Expenditures, Private Education Spending, Published Academic Articles And Gdp Changes Over Time, William Lex Stapp

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

ABSTRACT An analysis of the history of the evolution of education and its impact on economic development establishes the context and motivation for my primary research. The research inquiry is to determine if there is a measurable relationship between the three variables of training expenditures, private education spending, and academic publications with the dependent variable of GDP for various countries and globally. The analysis is followed by a discussion of future policy implications from the research, in order to create greater government investment in public education. The history of education demonstrated the random development of human learning from prehistoric times …

Geological Mapping Of Ferric And Ferrous Irons In The Apache Hills, New Mexico: Applying Landsat 8 (Oli), Spectrometry, And Geographic Information System (Gis) Methods, Sergio Gerardo Macias

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Mineral discoveries are typically tangible on surface studies. Previous research describes mineral deposits of ferric and ferrous irons in the lithology, structures, and alluvial fans in the Apache Hills in southwest New Mexico. The research for this thesis combines and models four methods for validating and mapping the presence of Ferric and Ferrous Irons developed in weathered zones above mineral deposits. A beneficial steppingstone before exploration and discovery begins with extensive research. This study began with data acquisition and reviewing previous research and was essential for the project methods. The study combines four techniques: spectral geology (e.g., remote sensing and …

Essays On Reit Founder Ceos, Michael Mcgonigle

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

I explore how founder CEOs influence the firm. In my first chapter I examine how founderCEO risk-aversion affects firm capital structure. Using book and market leverage ratios to proxy for risk aversion, I show that REITs with founder CEOs have less leverage than other REITs. This result holds when controlling for firm size, firm age, tangibility, profitability, growth potential, diversification strategy, property-type fixed effects and year fixed effects. I use a propensity score matching methodology to examine whether the reduced leverage is due to factors other than a CEO's founder status. The results do not support that notion. I use …

The Intersection Of Urban Heat Islands And The Cdc Social Vulnerability Index In Two Border Cities, Ileana Morales

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Coastal Frontiers: The Littoral Borderland In Alta California And The Spanish Pacific World, Chantra Vanna Potts

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

This dissertation explores the intricate relationship between Spanish exploration, the economy of the Pacific World, and their impact on colonization in Alta California during the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. It offers a new perspective on the history of the region by situating it within the context of the Eastern Pacific Basin and littoral borderlands, highlighting the transregional and global processes that shaped social and economic exchanges among Spanish colonists, Indigenous people, European and Anglo-American merchants, and diverse groups of sailors on the northern frontier of New Spain. Using the theoretical framework of mental mapping, or the subjective mental representation …

The Impact Of Rule Of Law And Property Rights On Development And Economic Growth: A Comparative Analysis Of Cameroon And Côte D'Ivoire, Raoul Tayou Tayou

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The issues of economic growth and development occupy a central place in the studies of underdeveloped or developing countries. Many solutions have been proposed, including foreign aid or institutional reforms. This last aspect is the subject of this research, particularly the rule of law and the property rights.Analyzing what is the impact of these two institutions on economic growth and development is at the center of my dynamic. Over a period from 1960 to 2022, I carry out a comparative study of the growth, and development trajectories of two countries in sub-Saharan Africa, which share the same demographics: Cameroon, and …

Re-Rhetoricizing Global Souths Contrapuntally: Borderless Transnational Feminist Design Justice, Bibhushana Poudyal

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

I intend this multimodal dissertation to function as a hypertextual and intertextual documentation of theories, practices, examples, methods, digital, and multimodal techniques for re-writing and re-rhetoricizing the differently situated Global Souths from the ground-up. I acknowledge the Global South as not only those geographies previously known as the Third World but also those spaces and communities within the Global North undergoing various forms of colonial, racist, neoliberal, and heteropatriarchal exploitations. Transnational feminist solidarities put the intersectional analysis of gender construction at the heart of its bottom-up resistance against global capitalism, environmental injustice, corporate violence, and imperialism. My dissertation includes several …

Critical Democratic Education: A Case Study On Controversy Deliberation And Its Effects Among Pre-Service Elementary Teachers, Shouqing Si

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The state of democracy facing expanding political division and pervasive racial and social inequalities. Discussing and deliberating controversial social and political issues functions help foster students' civic contribution. I conducted a qualitative case study and recruited 14 participants, with whom I conducted interviews, self-reflection, observation, and autoethnography. I targeted the primary research question: How do pre-service elementary teachers experience and get influenced by discussing social and public issues? I broke it down to six operational questions:

1. What issues are considered controversial by pre-service teachers in their future social studies classrooms?
2. What challenges do pre-service teachers perceive in controversial issues teaching? …

The Effects Of Recent Climate Change On Spring Phenology, With A Special Focus On Patterns Of Bee Foraging, Michael Stemkovski

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The date on which plants flower and on which bees begin to pollinate varies year-to-year depending on differences in weather. This seasonal timing is known as phenology, and it is already clear that climate change has pushed the spring phenology of many species earlier by increasing temperatures. This is particularly clear in flowering plants, but studying how and why the phenology of pollinators is shifting is more difficult. Most flowering plants rely on pollinators such as bees for their reproduction, and most bees rely on flowers for their sustenance, so bee and flower phenology has to overlap for the crucial …

The Barriers To Movement: The Effects Of Anthropogenic Linear Features On The Space-Use Behaviors Of Mule Deer And Pronghorn In Utah, Ronan B. Hart

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Human development of structures like roads, fences, and other linear features can make it difficult for animals to move around their environment, affecting their ability to find food and avoid danger. Animal movement and the way they use space comes about from their responses to their surroundings and their choices to balance risk and reward. Because of this, we can understand how roads and fences affect wildlife by studying the way they move around their habitats. In this thesis, I focused on two large herbivores, mule deer and pronghorn, and studied how they use the space within Utah, United States …

Tacitus, Barditus, And Odin's Eleventh Spell, Marie Skinner

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The Roman Historian Cornelius Tacitus wrote about native Europeans in 98 C.E., around a thousand years before the same peoples began recording their own history. Despite this, the work titled Germania is little-known and under-utilized. It is only by studying Germania and discussing it that the text will be seen for what it is and neither dismissed nor taken out of context. This thesis examines a few of the many passages of Germania that correspond with archaeological, literary, legal, and artistic information from later periods, demonstrating the value of Tacitus’ work to anyone studying European history.

Evaluating Quaking Aspen's Influence On Fire Behavior, Kristin A. Nesbit

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

In western North America, quaking aspen (Populus tremuloides Michx.) forests have long been described as low flammability, “fireproof” forest types that are less likely to burn or burn less intensely than coniferous forests. While this assumption has been based on limited scientific research and is largely anecdotal, there is growing interest in the western U.S. to promote aspen near human developments to reduce fire risk. I investigated the available evidence for aspen forests reducing fire occurrence, behavior, and severity, and assessed possible factors that affect flammability in aspen forests to better understand when and where aspen burn, and when …

Board Certified Behavior Analysts In Public Schools: Challenges And Opportunities, Danielle Lyons

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Board Certified Behavior Analysts (BCBAs) can play an important role in schools. The purpose of this study was to survey BCBAs who self-identify as working in public schools in effort to learn more about their experiences working in this setting. This paper is meant to spark further discussion and research on how BCBAs can be more effective in schools through training and supervision, collaborating with school administrators on systems-level concerns, resolving ethical concerns, and clarifying roles and responsibilities in public schools.

Status And Enhancement Of Trissolcus Japonicus (Ashmead) (Hymenoptera: Scelionidae) For Biological Control Of Halyomorpha Halys (Stål) (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae) In Northern Utah, Kate V. Richardson

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The invasive brown marmorated stink bug (BMSB) is a major insect pest that invades human structures causing nuisance issues and attacks numerous fruit and vegetable crops in Northern America. As this pest threatens $23 billion worth of specialty and agricultural crops in the U.S. and is difficult to manage due to insecticide resistance, control practices such as the use of biological control through egg parasitoid wasps are critical. In its native range of Asia, BMSB populations are controlled primarily by members of the Trissolcus genus such as the samurai wasp, but U.S. native wasps have demonstrated low success of BMSB …

Green Infrastructure In The Ozarks: Northwest Arkansas Development Policy And The Open Space Plan, Daniel Holtmeyer

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Northwest Arkansas regional planning authorities in 2016 released the Northwest Arkansas Open Space Plan, a voluntary document outlining ways to protect and preserve important open spaces even as the region’s population balloons and urban development spreads outward. No one appears to have made a systematic attempt to gauge the Plan’s impact on development decisions, however. In this thesis, I conduct a qualitative survey of several cities and counties’ planning codes and comprehensive plans to determine how much these policies have in common with the Open Space Plan’s essential principles. From that survey, I also conduct two case studies of recent …

Cartographic Analysis Of Earth-Sun Relationships In Ancient Amazonia, Jackson Bennett Critser

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The alignments of ancient man-made earthworks across the Amazon Basin, known as geoglyphs, have recently been discovered to predate early societal dates. Although much research indicated that the Amazon was uninhabitable until the last 1000 years (Meggers 1971), new evidence suggests this is not the case. The application of advanced cartographic and GIS technologies were implemented to link solar ‘marker’ days (e.g. solstices, equinoxes) with the alignment of geoglyphs, megaliths, stone architecture, and broader city forms to discover and analyze previously unknown Earth-Sun relationships across the Amazon Basin to conceivably sophisticated urban and architectural plans. The study of these geoglyphs …

Identifying Predictors Of Eventual Rural Practice Among Female Osteopathic Medical Students, Dana Kahl

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The United States is facing a growing physician shortage that threatens the ability of our healthcare system to provide needed services. This shortage will be more acutely felt in rural and underserved areas. Osteopathic medical education, with its priority of primary care specialties, plays a significant role in meeting the healthcare needs of rural communities in America. The fastest-growing demographic of osteopathic physicians is women under the age of 45 (American Osteopathic Association, 2021). Additionally, for the first time in history, women outnumber men in medical schools, accounting for 51% of current medical students (Boyle, 2019). Who is admitted to …

An Ecological Perspective Of American Rodent-Borne Orthohantavirus Surveillance, Nathaniel Mull

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Orthohantaviruses are a global group of viruses found primarily in rodents, though several viruses have also been found in shrews and moles. Many rodent-borne orthohantaviruses are capable of causing one of several diseases in humans, and the mortality associated with these diseases ranges from < 0.1% - 50% depending on the specific etiological virus. In North and South America, orthohantavirus research was ignited by an outbreak of severe disease in the Four Corners region of the United States in 1993. However, despite the discovery of over 20 orthohantaviruses in the Americas, our understanding of orthohantavirus ecology and virus-host dynamics in this region is still limited, and orthohantavirus surveillance is generally restricted in scope to select regions and small portions of host distributional ranges. In Chapter I, I present a literature review on the current understanding of American rodent-borne orthohantavirus ecology. This review focused on under-studied orthohantaviruses, addressing gaps in knowledge by extrapolating information from well-studied orthohantaviruses, general rodent ecology, and occassionally from Eurasian orthohantavirus-host ecology. There were several key conclusions generated from this review that warrant further research: 1) the large number of putative orthohantaviruses and gaps in orthohantavirus evolution necessitate further surveillance and characterization, 2) orthohantavirus traits differ and are more generalizable based on host taxonomy rather than geography, and 3) orthohantavirus host species are disproportionately found in grasslands and disturbed habitats. In Chapter II, I present a prioritized list of rodent species to target for orthohantavirus surveillance based on predictive modeling using machine learning. Probable orthohantavirus hosts were predicted based on traits of known orthohantavirus hosts using two different types of evidence: RT-PCR and virus isolation. Predicted host distributions were also mapped to identify geographic hotspots to spatially guide future surveillance efforts. In Chapter III, I present a framework for understanding and predicting orthohantavirus traits based on reservoir host phylogeny, as opposed to the traditional geographic dichotomy used to group orthohantaviruses. This framework establishes three distinct orthohantavirus groups: murid-borne orthohantaviruses, arvicoline-borne orthohantaviruses, and non-arvicoline cricetid-borne orthohantaviruses, which differ in several key traits, including the human disease they cause, transmission routes, and virus-host fidelity. In Chapter IV, I compare rodent communities and orthohantavirus prevalence among grassland management regimes. Sites that were periodically burned had high rodent diversity and a high proportion of grassland species. However, rodent seroprevalence for orthohantavirus was also highest in burned sites, representing a trade-off in habitat management outcomes. The high seroprevalence in burned sites is likely due to the robust populations supported by the high quality habitat resulting from prescribed burning. In Chapters V and VI, I describe Ozark virus and Sager Creek virus, two novel orthohantaviruses discovered from specimens collected during Chapter IV. Both chapters report full genome sequences of the respective viruses and compare both nucleotide and protein phylogenies with related orthohantaviruses. Additionally in Chapter VI, I support the genetic analyses with molecular and ecological characterizations, including seasonal fluctuations in host abundance, correlates of prevalence, evidence of virus shedding, and information on host cell susceptibility to Sager Creek virus.

Effects Of Landscape And Yard Features On Mammals In Residential Yards In Northwest Arkansas, Emily Johansson

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The human footprint is rapidly expanding, and wildlife habitat is continuously being converted to human residential properties. Most wildlife residing in developing areas are displaced to nearby undeveloped areas. However, some animals can coexist with humans and acquire the necessary resources (food, water, shelter) within the human environment. This may be particularly true when development is low intensity, as in suburban yards. Due to the wide variety in how homeowners utilize their yards, they can be considered individually managed “greenspaces.” These yards can provide a range of food (e.g., bird feeders, compost, gardens), water (bird baths and garden ponds), and …

Reproducibility And Replicability In Unmanned Aircraft Systems And Geographic Information Science, Cassandra Howe

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Multiple scientific disciplines face a so-called crisis of reproducibility and replicability (R&R) in which the validity of methodologies is questioned due to an inability to confirm experimental results. Trust in information technology (IT)-intensive workflows within geographic information science (GIScience), remote sensing, and photogrammetry depends on solutions to R&R challenges affecting multiple computationally driven disciplines. To date, there have only been very limited efforts to overcome R&R-related issues in remote sensing workflows in general, let alone those tied to disruptive technologies such as unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) and machine learning (ML). To accelerate an understanding of this crisis, a review was …

Surviving The Stigma: Incorporating Mental Health Literacy To Increase Help-Seeking In California First Responders, Yvonne C. Newson

Master's Projects and Capstones

First responders are at risk of developing mental health problems due to repeated exposure to traumatic incidents, increasing their chance of developing Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, substance abuse, suicidal ideation, and suicide. Unfortunately, first responders do not recognize that they may have a mental illness and are reluctant to seek help. This paper will discuss the prevalence of mental health problems among first responders and the barriers to their help-seeking. These barriers include the stigma around mental illness within the culture, the assessability of professional help, and the lack of mental health literacy regarding their well-being. Further discussion will focus …

Climate Change And Labor Reallocation: Evidence From Six Decades Of The Indian Census, Maggie Liu, Yogita Shamdasani, Vis Taraz

Environmental Science and Policy: Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

War In Iraq, 2003-2011: An Exhibit From The Hagel Archives, Lori Schwartz

Criss Library Faculty Proceedings & Presentations

I’m the Chuck Hagel and Technical Services Archivist at UNO. I manage the Hagel Archives. Hagel was a U.S. senator in 1997-2009 and SecDef in 2013-2015. Lesser known is that he was deputy administrator at the VA in 1981-82.

Topics for which the Hagel Collection has dozens of cubic feet include the War on Terror broadly, wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, economic downtown of 2007-2009, and climate change. The abundance of records in these areas is because Hagel was on Foreign Relations, Banking, and Intelligence.

The Optimization Of Microtransit In Houston Suburban Outer Ring Ii Transit Deserts., Jamaal Schoby

Dissertations (2016-Present)

During the past decade, urban cities have been inundated with a plethora of on-demand smartphone enabled transportation services including ridesoucring, ridesplitting, and most recently microtransit. At the same time, local governments are accentuating the gentrification of blighted central city neighborhoods. While the revitalization is causing an increase in the tax base and property values, the adverse impacts are resulting in rising housing cost and the displacement of socio-economic disadvantaged African Americans. A mounting body of research is finding this demographic group migrating outward to suburban low-density spatially fragmented areas for affordable housing. However, transit coverage and supply are minimal to …

New-R Intervention For Clients With Severe Mental Illness And Obesity: Grant Writing For Implementation Funds Supporting Occupational Therapy Interventions, Kaitlyn Hoffman

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Increasing numbers of people suffer from obesity and severe mental illness co-morbidly. If these conditions remain untreated, they can harm an individual's health and well-being. Unfortunately, there are very few programs currently available that target both management and improvement of these conditions simultaneously. Even so, despite the lack of programming options, it must be noted that the NEW-R program strives to reach those goals, although there hasn't been an abundance of literature supporting the effectiveness of this program. This poses a concern for occupational therapy practitioners who hope to assist their clients in managing these conditions as occupational therapy treatments …

The Effects Of Telehealth On Access To Palliative Care In Rural Communities, Ryleigh Hanson

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

Patients with serious and life-limiting illnesses are in need of palliative care which allows for both the patient and their family to learn how to live a relatively quality life in spite of their illness. Current access to palliative care is limited to urban areas leaving those in rural communities to face their illness without proper care. To understand why these limitations exist and to determine possible solutions, several articles were analyzed that focused on the benefits and stigmas of palliative care, why rural communities struggle to gain access to palliative care, and if telehealth is a possible solution to …