Digital Commons Network^™

Feasibility Of Earthships As Sustainable Homes In Brookings County, South Dakota, Whitney Sunkwah Yeboah

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Addressing the issue of housing deficit while providing affordable and sustainable homes is a significant problem in the United States today. This has prompted architects to design homes with less adverse environmental impacts despite their affordability, hence the birth of sustainable housing. Earthships are sustainable homes built from recycled materials, utilize solar or wind energy, and function as self-sufficient units. The study's main aim is to assess residents' perceptions of earthships and their willingness to adopt earthships in Brookings County, South Dakota. The research employs online surveys to garner data from residents, and data are analyzed using mixed methods. Results …

Average Or Outlier? Introductory Statistics Adjunct Instructors’ Beliefs, Practices, And Experiences, Samantha Estrada, Erica Martinez

Psychology Faculty Publications and Presentations

In recent years, the adjunct faculty phenomenon has grown steadily. This research focused on adjunct instructors teaching introductory statistics courses. The purpose of the study was to give a voice to adjunct instructors by allowing them to describe their experiences teaching statistics. We conducted a qualitative study with 15 adjunct instructors of introductory statistics through semi-structured interviews. The participants came from several fields: psychology, nursing, and business, among others. Thematic analysis was used to find themes of statistical anxiety, use of technology in the classroom, lack of curriculum flexibility, and connection to the host institution. Our findings can inform institutions …

Social Determinant Of Health Impact On Diabetes Device Use And Clinical Outcomes In Youth With Type 1 Diabetes, Emily R Crain, Ryan Ramphul, Ashley M Butler, Xiaofan Huang, Charles G Minard, Maria J Redondo, Daniel J Desalvo

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Background: Youth with Type 1 diabetes (T1D) who are Black, Hispanic, or lower socioeconomic status (SES) have lower rates of diabetes device use, higher hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c), and higher rates of diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA). However, the associations of individual-level social determinants of health (SDoH) and neighborhood-level factors with device use and clinical outcomes are unknown. Area deprivation index (ADI) is a neighborhood level measure of SES reported in deciles (range 1-10 with 10 representing most deprived neighborhood).

Methods: We evaluated the association of ADI and other SDoH factors with pump/continuous glucose monitor (CGM) use, HbA1c, and DKA in 1,461 youth …

Displacement, Place Attachment, And Other Characteristics Of Anglers On The Yellowstone River, Zachary L. Jones

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Yellowstone River has seen increasing recreational use as Montana has grown and out of state visitation has increased, leading to some locals voicing concerns of crowding. River recreation, as with many outdoor recreational activities, has participants that may be considered to be sensitive to crowded conditions and place a high value on solitude. Considering these perceptions, there is reason to believe that these participants may change their river use patterns if or when the perceived level of crowding exceeds their tolerance thresholds. Further, monitoring efforts conducted at river access sites often do not fully capture users that are already displaced …

An Investigation Of Cardiovascular Health Of Wildland Firefighters And Impact Of Temperature On Occupational Injuries Among Workers, Md Zahid Hasan

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Cardiovascular events are the leading cause of on-the-job mortality among wildland firefighters (WFFs). Health screening programs play an important role in assuring the safety of workers in this arduous duty occupation. Some research has highlighted acute health effects in this worker population, but little is known about the impact of long-term, repeated exposures. To fill this gap, my dissertation investigated cardiovascular health status of wildland firefighters and explored the association of their work history (days assigned on fire) to the subclinical risks factors of cardiovascular health. My 1st study compared the subclinical risk factors of cardiovascular health of wildland firefighters …

An Interdisciplinary Approach To Understanding Ecosystem Processes And Human Perceptions Of Montana’S Mountain Lakes, Carly Innis

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Mountain lake ecosystems are critical in their roles in global biogeochemical cycling and providing vital ecosystem services, including freshwater resources, ecological habitats, and recreational opportunities. Ecological processes in mountain lakes, especially those occurring in the littoral, or near-shore zones, are linked to society and can be negatively influenced by human behavior, consequently threatening ecosystem services a lake provides. To investigate this problem, this study interrogates two inter-related issues. First, I assessed ecosystem metabolic services of biological activity that demonstrate a lake’s role in carbon cycling through sampling and monitoring a series of mountain lakes. During the summer of 2022, we …

The Biome Within: Conception And Change In The Paradise Valley, Austin Kirchhoff

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

The Biome Within is an essay collection that meditates on change. Born and raised in the Paradise Valley of southwest Montana, Austin recounts stories from her childhood, painting a picture of rural life in the Valley that contrasts with its modern-day incarnation as a luxury get-away and millionaire’s playground. Even as Austin pines for a time and a place that no longer exists, embodying the nostalgia that she identifies in the Valley’s transplants, the reader comes to understand that the author – and her family’s way of making a living – are culpable in creating the changes that she now …

Navigating The Soviet Experiment: Travels And Writings Of John Dos Passos And Edmund Wilson In Soviet Russia, 1928-1935, Robert Allan Winslow

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

The travel accounts of Soviet Russia by John Dos Passos (1896-1970) and Edmund Wilson (1895-1972) vividly demonstrate how Western writer-travelers were drawn into Soviet cultural experiments. Only rarely was this process one of literary influence. This thesis focuses on published travel writings by Dos Passos (In All Countries, 1934) and Wilson (Travels In Two Democracies, 1936), as well as journals, letters, and essays, in terms of Soviet cultural developments both writers noted as historically significant in shaping Western views of the Soviet state, and of the methods involved in building socialism and Communism.

In the …

Venturing Into The Virtual: An Analysis Of Virtual Museums And Creation Of Umacf Southwestern Basketry Virtual Exhibit, Monica D. Lusnia

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

The prevalence of virtual museums has grown in recent years and this relatively new exhibition format has presented the museum field with opportunities for growth. In an effort to explore the virtual sphere as an effective avenue for museum growth and change, I conduct an analysis of what virtual museums are, the challenges they pose, and the benefits they can provide to museum education. Case studies of University of California Chico, University of New Mexico, University of Arizona, and University of Nevada Reno’s virtual exhibition of materials from each university’s anthropology collections serves to further the exploration of the efficacy …

Ancient Migrations In West Mexico: Mtdna Analyses, Patricio Gutiérrez Ruano

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Despite the mounting evidence that suggests The Aztatlán tradition in West Mexico was a major cosmopolitan region during the Postclassic period (AD 900-1521) with connections to the rest of what is now Mexico, archaeologists have characterized items in West Mexico as culturally distinct from the rest of Mesoamerica. Recently, endogenous, and exogenous material culture has been interpreted as movement and exchange of goods and ideas between subregions and surrounding areas, all of which mention physical contact and trade were involved between Aztatlán and elsewhere. This has included interacting with areas as far as the U.S. Southwest, as well as in …

The Effect Of Place Attachment And Leisure Identity On Stewardship Participation In The Rattlesnake National Recreation Area And Wilderness, Elena Rene Thomas

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

As outdoor recreation participation increases in the U.S., and many communities in the American West are experiencing rising amenity migration, park and protected area managers face significant challenges to balance both providing for visitors’ desired experiences and protecting the natural resources on which these experiences depend. Confronted with declining management capacity, agencies are increasingly looking to engage both newer and established recreationists in stewardship behaviors to help maintain these areas and improve human-environment relationships. One barrier to community involvement in stewardship efforts is the need to better understand the connection between recreationists’ antecedent conditions and their motivations to steward. Past …

Building Bridges: Supervisors’ Management Of Competency Questioning, Arianna Camille Vokos

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Clinical supervision is an opportunity for supervisors to influence and shape the education of counselors-in-training. Exchanging feedback between supervisees and supervisors can be a challenging aspect of supervision and can have profound impact on the efficacy of supervision, the safety of clients, and the supervision relationship. Understanding the experience and process that supervisors go through when their competence is questioned could be critical to understanding the supervision relationship. Successful management of competency questioning contributes to the efficacy of the supervision relationship, better protection of clients, and positive development of supervisees. Using grounded theory methodology (Charmaz, 2014), this qualitative study addresses …

A Novel Bayesian Spatial-Temporal Approach To Quantify Sars-Cov-2 Testing Disparities For Small Area Estimation, Cici Bauer, Xiaona Li, Kehe Zhang, Miryoung Lee, Esmeralda Guajardo, Susan Fisher-Hoch, Joseph Mccormick, Maria E Fernandez, Belinda Reininger

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Objectives. To propose a novel Bayesian spatial–temporal approach to identify and quantify severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) testing disparities for small area estimation.

Methods. In step 1, we used a Bayesian inseparable space–time model framework to estimate the testing positivity rate (TPR) at geographically granular areas of the census block groups (CBGs). In step 2, we adopted a rank-based approach to compare the estimated TPR and the testing rate to identify areas with testing deficiency and quantify the number of needed tests. We used weekly SARS-CoV-2 infection and testing surveillance data from Cameron County, Texas, between March 2020 …

Micropolitics Of Urban Informality And Street Vendors In Kolkata, Tathagata Chatterji, Archit Sinha, Atanu Chatterjee, Anjita Paul

Socio-Legal Review

Street vending activities received formal legislative recognition in India, with the Parliament enacting the Street Vendors (Protection of Livelihood and Regulation of Street Vending) Act in 2014. Since then, the judiciary has sought to uphold the rule based order through the implementation of the Street Vendors Act. However, on-ground implementation of the progressive legislation remains challenging, and vendors continue to face harassment. Looking through the prism of “political society”, this article explores micro-level network politics around street vending in Kolkata. First, it discusses how the city’s political economic context played a role in the mobilisation of the vendors to resist …

Fostering Electricity Access In Cameroon: Impeding Factors And Cost-Effective Model, Jean-Jacques A. Enow

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Abstract Due to irregularities and shortages in electricity generation and distribution, 95% of Cameroon’s population suffers from debilitating effects on national economic security, public health, education, safety, and quality of life. Cameroon needs a sustainable, efficient, and innovative electricity source and policy system. Failure to meet this demand forestalls the much-needed socio-economic and political development of the country. The purpose of the present study was to explore inadequacies of the current hydroelectric supply system in Cameroon, putting into perspective factors that impeded the development of a sustainable electricity supply system, strategies to alleviate these impediments, and the most cost-effective framework …

Disparate Access To Medical Coverage Associated With Type 2 Diabetes Care In Low-Income And Rural Communities In Georgia, Crystal Alexis Symone Edwards

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Disparate access to diabetes care in rural and low-income communities among older adults has been an ongoing issue among Americans. Type 2 diabetes in low-income and rural communities has continuously burdened many residents due to age, costs of care, income, geographic location, and education levels. Researchers have demonstrated that providing resources and tools to rural and low-income communities would assist in decreasing type 2 diabetes and increase education and awareness. The purpose of this quantitative cross-sectional study using secondary data was to examine the relationship between health insurance status and lack of access to health care resources and delay of …

Who Was Wearing A Mask In 2021? Update On Gender-, Age-, And Location-Related Differences During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Michael H. Haischer, Rachel Beilfuss, Meggie Rose Hart, Lauren Opielinski, Emma Schmit, David Wrucke, Helena Zhao, Toni D. Uhrich, Sandra K. Hunter

Exercise Science Faculty Research and Publications

Previous observational work from 2020 demonstrated gender-, age-, and location-related differences in mask-wearing behavior, despite the efficacy and public health messaging that emphasized face coverings in combatting the spread of COVID-19. In 2021, COVID-19 vaccinations and a corresponding change in public health policy became new considerations in deciding personal protective behaviors. To provide an update on mask wearers and resistors approximately one year after our initial study, we observed shoppers (n = 6,118) entering retail stores using the same experimental methodology. Approximately 26% of individuals wore a mask. Mask wearing has decreased across demographic groups compared to 2020. Aligning …

Understanding The State Of Broadband Connectivity: An Analysis Of Speedtests And Emerging Technologies, Reinaldo Sanchez-Arias, Luis G. Jaimes, Shahram Taj

Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Faculty Publications

The lack of access to broadband services and speeds that allows urban and rural populations to meet the minimum requirements of today's society creates a lack of economic opportunities and digital inequality. In contrast, regions with adequate broadband infrastructure can attract investors and become the home of tech workers while boosting the local economy. To level the field and promote the expansion and improvement of broadband infrastructure, federal and state agencies in the U.S. provide funding through programs such as the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund, and The Enabling Middle Mile Broadband Infrastructure Program among others. Here, counties assess their broadband …

The Importance Of Exit Via Acquisition To Venture Capital, Entrepreneurship, And Innovation, Devin Reilly, D. Daniel Sokol, David Toniatti

Minnesota Journal of International Law, Vols. 28:2 onward (2019-present)

Antitrust regulators around the world, including in the UK, have proposed changes to merger review policies that impact how acquisitions of start-ups would be investigated and evaluated. Such changes will likely lead to heightened scrutiny—and increased costs and longer reviews—for many acquisitions, including both horizontal and non-horizontal mergers. In evaluating the merits of such changes, it is critical to take into account the important role that exit via acquisition plays in providing incentives for venture capital (VC) investment and entrepreneurship. This article seeks to provide context for evaluating the effects of such proposed changes. First, it documents the links among …

The Targeting Of Underseas Communications Cables: Armed Conflict, Developing States, And The Need For A Twail Approach, Stephen Floyd

Minnesota Journal of International Law, Vols. 28:2 onward (2019-present)

No abstract provided.

Quantifying The Economic Costs Of Global Warming, Christopher W. Callahan

Dartmouth College Ph.D Dissertations

Climate change poses a threat to the well-being of people across the globe. Rising global temperatures will increase the frequency and magnitude of extreme climate events, threatening the lives and livelihoods of vulnerable people. Yet the magnitude and persistence of these economic impacts are poorly understood, making it difficult both to design equitable mitigation and adaptation strategies and to hold emitters accountable for the impacts of their emissions. In this thesis, I combine methods from detection and attribution, climate projection, and causal inference to understand the global economic consequences of past and future climate change. I show that two extreme …

Hydrocephalus: A Neuropsychological And Theoretical Primer, Tara Zaksaite, Catherine Loveday, Trudi Edginton, Hugo J. Spiers, Alastair D. Smith

School of Psychology

Hydrocephalus is a common neurological condition, the hallmark feature of which is an excess in production, or accumulation, of cerebrospinal fluid in the ventricles. Although it is associated with diffuse damage to paraventricular brain areas, patients are broadly typified by a particular pattern of cognitive impairments that include deficits in working memory, attention, and spatial abilities. There have, however, been relatively few neuropsychological accounts of the condition. Moreover, theories of the relationship between aetiology and impairment appear to have emerged in isolation of each other, and proffer fundamentally different accounts. In this primer, we aim to provide a comprehensive and …

Sociophonetics And Dialectology, Dominic Watt, Margaret E. L. Renwick, Joseph A. Stanley

Faculty Publications

In this chapter we explore how the investigation of phonetic detail in speech seen through a sociolinguistic lens can inform and enhance our understanding of dialectal variation in languages. We begin by examining how sociophonetics can be considered an offshoot of dialectology, later to mature into a free- standing discipline during the late twentieth century. We next discuss the reconvergence of sociophonetics and dialectology as it became clearer that the two approaches to the study of language variation are, in combination, greater than the sum of their parts, even if their agendas may place different emphases on what should be …

Photojournalism, Public Health, And Politicization: Analyzing Photographic News Coverage Of Health Crises In The 20th And 21st Centuries, Hans C. Schmidt

Iowa Journal of Communication

While political division has been present in the American press since its start, politicized and polarized content is now stretching beyond straightforward political news – where such content might be expected – and is increasingly seen in other news categories, including science, medical, and health journalism. This development has been especially notable during the COVID-19 pandemic, when medical and health reporting frequently became coopted by a political narrative. This study builds on research into the politicization of pandemic and medical reporting with an investigation of pandemic-era photojournalism. Using a content analysis, this study aims to provide greater insight into the …

Exploring Of User Experience And Evaluating Mobility Benefits Of Micromobility Systems And Golf Carts: Case Study Of Florida, Kabhabhela C. Bukuru

UNF Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Micromobility devices and golf carts (GCs)/Low speed vehicles(LSVs) are urban transportation solutions that provide short-distance travel options, including first- and last-mile trips. They mostly operate at speeds of 15 mi/h to 35 mi/h. The micromobility devices include e-scooters and e-bikes. The micromobility devices and golfcarts are increasing rapidly in the transportation system, and thus, it is necessary to explore their various factors. The objective of this study is to explore the user experience and evaluate the mobility benefits of the micromobility systems in Florida.

A survey was conducted in various cities with a substantial user base of micromobility devices. Various …

Rural Black Masculinity And The Blues In Not Without Laughter, Andy Oler

Publications

In the 1930 novel Not without Laughter, Langston Hughes represents a wide range of Black experience in the Midwest – the “picturesque” alongside the horrific, the old-fashioned, as well as the modern.Hughes uses the novel’s setting, the small town of Stanton, Kansas, to determine some of the limits placed on protagonist Sandy Rodgers and his family, and their attempts to work through them.

Supporting The Learning Of Women Middle Eastern Students Studying Engineering In Europe, Shannon M. Chance, B. Williams, Ines Direito

Research Outputs: 2025-Present

No abstract provided.

Mergers In The Us Gambling And Horse Racing Industries: What It Means For Local Economic Development And Taxation, Thomas E. Lambert

Faculty and Staff Scholarship

Even before the Covid-19 pandemic, most sectors of the various gambling industries in the United States were showing signs of stagnation. Over the last few years, these industries have seen mergers between horse racing tracks, between horse racing tracks and casinos to form “racinos”, and between casino companies. Many gambling facilities and racetracks have closed and have been sold to developers to be used for other purposes. An industry “shakeout” is occurring, and there appears to be a trend toward greater industry concentration as consumers are showing less and less interest in gambling in general. This has been partially fueled …

Community Participation, Experience, And Perceptions Of The Solar Over Louisville Solarize Program, 2022-2023. A Technical Report Prepared For Louisville Metro Government, Angela Storey, D. Johnson, J. Chatellier, Lauren Heberle, A. Smith

Faculty and Staff Scholarship

No abstract provided.

2023 State Of Metropolitan Housing Report: The State Of Housing In A Changing Climate, Building Resilient Homes, Households, And Communities, Lauren Heberle, Rebecca Halpryn, S. Pruitt, S. Belinova, L. Krauser

Faculty and Staff Scholarship

No abstract provided.