Digital Commons Network^™

Rise And Fall? The Rise And Fall Of Isis In Libya, Azeem Ibrahim

Books, Monographs & Collaborative Studies

This monograph places events in Libya since 2011 into their historical and social context and argues a form of radical Islamism, linked to long-standing national defiance of outside control, remains a factor even after the defeat of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS). This entrenched radicalism means extremist Islamist groups may still make a renewed bid for power until the current civil war is resolved. At the time of this writing, the military campaign by the Libyan National Army has stalled outside Tripoli. Now is the time for the United States and the wider international community to step …

Dynamic Qualitative Methods: Attending To Place, Space And Time In Higher Education, K Finn, M Holton

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences

No abstract provided.

Parenting Practices And Parental Religiosity: The Context Of Region And Conservatism, Melanie Stearns

Theses and Dissertations

Although parental religiosity generally has been associated with positive child outcomes it also has been connected to the use of corporal punishment and authoritarian parenting style. Thus, other variables must exist which influence how the interaction between religiosity and parenting practices influence child outcomes, such as regional differences (i.e., conservatism, population density, etc.). The current study expanded upon previous literature by examining maternal and paternal variables, extending the study to emerging adults, examining emerging adult gender, various religions, and different regions of the United States (i.e., Northeast, South, Midwest, West), as well as levels of conservatism and population density (i.e., …

Easily Overlooked: Modelling Coastal Dune Habitat Occupancy Of Threatened And Endangered Beach Mice (Peromyscus Polionotus Spp.) Using High-Resolution Aerial Imagery And Elevation Models Of The Northern Gulf Of Mexico, Wesley Burger

Theses and Dissertations

The Gulf of Mexico dune system is a broad and dynamic environment that varies greatly in geomorphology and vegetative composition across the Gulf coastline. Beach mice (Peromyscus polionotus spp.) are an endangered species that rely on coastal habitat structure. I hypothesized that beach mouse occupancy would be dependent upon coastal dune land cover and landform features. I identified coastal landforms using high-resolution elevation data and landform models in GRASS GIS and identified coastal dune vegetation classes using high-resolution aerial imagery and object oriented vegetation classification. These features were used to create a dynamic occupancy model to determine occupancy patterns in …

Evaluating The Unequal Impacts Of Hurricane Harvey: A Critical Gis Analysis In Systems Of Governmental Risk Assessment And Mitigation, Mustafa Ansari Monk

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis uses flooding driven by Hurricane Harvey in 2017 and a history of inundation in Houston, Texas to critique the systems of floodplain mapping through the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP). The role of Geographic Information Systems becomes a subject of interest in the context of U.S governance and the role of property as a driving force in urban development. The shortcomings of existing systems of mitigation are examined through mappings that bring measures of risk, damage, and recovery into contrast with each other. Racial and economic inequality are integrated into the analysis through a deeper consideration of the …

Genetics Of A Color Polymorphism In Heliconius Doris, Caleb Benson

Theses and Dissertations

Balancing selection refers to the maintenance of multiple phenotypic variants within a population. There are a number of proposed mechanisms explaining the origin and persistence of the evolution and genetics of polymorphisms, but they largely remain unresolved in the specific instances in which they occur. This study aims to identify the genetic basis of a polymorphism in the butterfly, Heliconius doris, which displays four distinct color patterns on the dorsal hindwings of individuals. While Mullerian mimetic theory proposes that phenotypes will converge on a common, aposematic phenotype, this is not the case in Heliconius doris. We identify an interval perfectly …

Grain Size Distribution And Sedimentology In Volcanic Mass-Wasting Flows: Implications For Propagation And Mobility, Symeon Makris, Irene Manzella, Paul Cole, Matteo Roverato

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences

The sedimentological characteristics of mass-wasting flow deposits are important for assessing the differences between phenomena and their propagation and emplacement mechanisms. In the present study, nine volcanic debris avalanche deposits and eight lahar deposits are considered, from the literature. Their sedimentology is expressed in the descriptive statistics: median grain size, sand, gravel and finer particle fractions, skewness and sorting. Analysis of the data confirms that lahars and debris avalanches diverge in their grain size distribution and in their evolution during propagation. Water saturation in lahars is the main factor enabling debulking, a mechanism that is not recorded in the data …

Brewing History: How Local Option And Prohibition Altered The Texas Brewing Industry, Shelby Winthrop Dewitt

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The prohibition movement began decades before the Civil War but did not gain considerable support in Texas until the late nineteenth century. While local option elections and calls for statewide prohibition in Texas failed, national prohibition efforts culminated in the instatement of the Eighteenth Amendment in January 1919 and the Volstead Act in October 1919. This thesis details the prohibition issue through an analysis of eight larger, better-funded Texas breweries who used evolving social and political conditions to combat prohibition and grow their companies, laying the foundation for the Texas brewing industry. This thesis and subsequent digital exhibit provide a …

An Analysis Of Intercultural Research From 2000-2019., Isabelle Kramer

Undergraduate Honors Theses

In the last twenty years, advancements in information and communications technologies have fundamentally altered the face of intercultural communication (Shuter, 2011). While there is significant research regarding the impact of new media on intercultural communication, there is no published research that discusses the ways in which intercultural scholarship in the academic context has adapted to the evolving social media landscape. I will be conducting a content analysis on all intercultural articles published on the EBSCO database “Communication and Mass Media Complete” between January 2000 and January 2019. This research will illuminate trends in intercultural communications studies over the past twenty …

Knowlesi Malaria, Yee Ling Lau

Archival Material (2020s)

Originally a simian malaria, Plasmodium knowlesi is now known as the fifth human malaria species. Since the report of a large focus of human knowlesi cases in Sarawak in 2004, many more human cases have been reported in all of the countries in Southeast Asia and in travellers returning from these countries. The zoonotic nature of this infection hinders malaria elimination efforts. In order to grasp the current perspective of knowlesi malaria, this inaugural lecture explores the different aspects of the disease including risk factors, diagnosis, treatment, molecular and functional studies. Current studies do not provide sufficient data for an …

Sociopolitical Silos: Environmental Views And The Multiplicative Effect Of Same-Party Friends, Lawrence C. Hamilton, Joel Hartter, Curt Grimm

Faculty Publications

Analysis of climate and other environmental questions on three regional survey projects conducted over 2017–2020 (9,000+ interviews) elaborate on the well-known importance of political factors by adding support for three newer propositions. First, strength of political identification predicts climate-change views within the ranks of conservatives but not within ranks of liberals, evidence that conservatives’ climate-change views are more politically determined. Second, factor analysis suggests that climate-change beliefs meet statistical criteria for being an indicator of sociopolitical identity, alongside the traditional indicators of ideology and party, or the newer one of Trump support. This result calls for caution interpreting models that …

Modelling Scenarios Of Environmental Recovery After Implementation Of Controls On Emissions Of Persistent Organic Pollutants, S. D.W. Comber, M. J. Gardner, C. Constantino, S. Firth, A. Hargreaves, R. Davies

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences

Predictions of BaP concentrations in biota decreasing towards the EQS over time.

Potential Of Resampled Multispectral Data For Detecting Desmodium-Brachiaria Intercropped With Maize In A 'Push-Pull' System, B. T. Mudereri, E. M. Abdel-Rahman, T. Dube, T. Landmann, S. Niassy, H. E.Z. Tonnang, Z. R. Khan

All Peer-Reviewed Publications

Poor crop yields remain one of the main causes of chronic food insecurity in Africa. This is largely caused by insect pests, weeds, unfavourable climatic conditions and degraded soils. Weed and pest control, based on the climate-adapted g'push-pull' system, has become an important target for sustainable intensification of food production adopted by many small-holder farmers. However, essential baseline information using remotely sensed data is missing, specifically for the g'push-pull' companion crops. In this study, we investigated the spectral uniqueness of two of the most commonly used g'companion' crops (i.e. greenleaf Desmodium (i Desmodium intortum/i) and Brachiaria (i Brachiaria/i cv Mulato) …

Gender, Spatiality And Motherhood: Intergenerational Change In Greek-Cypriot Migrant Families In The Uk, Gina Kallis, R. Yarwood, N. Tyrrell

School of Nursing and Midwifery

No abstract provided.

‘Intercultural Bridges Across The Romaine River Flowing Through The Nitassinan And Minganie (North Shore, Québec)’, Laurie Guimond

Talking Heads Seminar Series

Since 2009, a major hydroelectric project on the Romaine River, located in the heart of the Nitassinan, Innus’ ancestral territory, and the regional county municipality (RCM) of Minganie on Québec’s North Shore region, has reshaped the relationships between the Innu and non-Innu and their territory. Given the magnitude of the project, a broader analysis of its economic and environmental impacts has been conducted mainly by Hydro-Québec and other government bodies. However, the intercultural incidences of such project were not anticipated nor included in the project planning phase, which has impeded its maximization of the regional economic spinoffs.

Characterization Of The Biogeography And Temporal Dynamics Of The Trachymyrmex Septentrionalis Fungus Garden Microbiome, Kevin Lee

Doctoral Dissertations

Like all fungus-growing ants, Trachymyrmex septentrionalis engages in an obligate mutualism with a Basidiomycete fungus that it raises as its primary nutrition source. Therefore, the success of the symbiosis is dependent upon the health of the fungus garden containing this fungus, which may be affected by the composition of its microbiome. Most of what is known about fungus garden microbiomes comes from studies of the Neotropical fungus growing ants, especially the most evolutionarily derived and economically impactful “leaf-cutting” species. Although fungus-farming ants inhabit a vast range, little is known about how dispersal of microbes from their biogeographically and temporally distinct …

Issue 354: August 6-20, 2020, The Local Voice

The Local Voice

No abstract provided.

Daphne Odjig: Indigenous Art And Contemporary Curatorial Practices, Lucy Kay Riley

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines the history of curatorial practices and scholarship regarding the work and life of Daphne Odjig (1919-2016), a self-taught Canadian artist of Potawatomi and English ancestry, in order to situate her at the crux of the contemporary Indigenous art movement in Canada.

Herbivores At The Highest Risk Of Extinction Among Mammals, Birds, And Reptiles, Trisha B. Atwood, Shaley A. Valentine, Edd Hammill, Douglas J. Mccauley, Elizabeth M. P. Madin, Karen H. Beard, William D. Pearse

Ecology Center Publications

As a result of their extensive home ranges and slow population growth rates, predators have often been perceived to suffer higher risks of extinction than other trophic groups. Our study challenges this extinction-risk paradigm by quantitatively comparing patterns of extinction risk across different trophic groups of mammals, birds, and reptiles. We found that trophic level and body size were significant factors that influenced extinction risk in all taxa. At multiple spatial and temporal scales, herbivores, especially herbivorous reptiles and large-bodied herbivores, consistently have the highest proportions of threatened species. This observed elevated extinction risk for herbivores is ecologically consequential, given …

Holistic Approaches To State School Grading Systems, Darryl Bond Denhalter

Theses and Dissertations

The United States education system has experienced an evolution of school accountability systems that has led to changes and variation in state school grading systems. This study shows that the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) of 2015, a recent reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) of 1965, provides greater autonomy to individual states in evaluating and reporting school accountability than in preceding years and provides opportunities for states to implement a more holistic or well-rounded approach to school grading. ESSA policy and this study encourages states to choose to evaluate schools more holistically by implementing a wider …

Eradicating Anti-Black Racism In U.S. Schools: A Call-To-Action For School Leaders, Altheria L. Caldera

Diversity, Social Justice, and the Educational Leader

This manuscript is a theoretical treatise that examines anti-Blackness in the nation’s schools and contributes to the ongoing discussion about how schools can better serve Black students. It is a three-pronged call-to-action for social justice-oriented school leaders. I urge school leaders to 1) examine anti-Black racism as a distinct form of racial discrimination, 2) imagine ways educators can fully humanize Black children in U.S. schools through a disposition characterized by Black cultural reverence, and 3) connect with existing efforts to counter anti-Black racism in schools. To accomplish these goals, I investigated the historical socio-political context that has shaped the educational …

A Modeling Framework For Urban Growth Prediction Using Remote Sensing And Video Prediction Technologies: A Time-Dependent Convolutional Encoder-Decoder Architecture, Ahmed Hassan Jaad

Civil and Environmental Engineering Theses and Dissertations

Studying the growth pattern of cities/urban areas has received considerable attention during the past few decades. The goal is to identify directions and locations of potential growth, assess infrastructure and public service requirements, and ensure the integration of the new developments with the existing city structure. This dissertation presents a novel model for urban growth prediction using a novel machine learning model. The model treats successive historical satellite images of the urban area under consideration as a video for which future frames are predicted. A time-dependent convolutional encoder-decoder architecture is adopted. The model considers as an input a satellite image …

Essays On Issues In Management And Gender, Priyanka Chakraborty

Economics Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation consists of three empirical essays that focus on the intersection of management, gender issues and education. I am interested in finding policy interventions that promote healthy, efficient and more inclusive workplaces. To do so, I study the micro and behavioral aspects of labor markets using different methodologies. In Chapters 1 and 2, I study two key features in management, namely mentorship and leadership. Both have an economic impact on individual employee outcomes as well as organizational performance. I examine advice giving in mentoring relations in my job market paper and leadership decisions, performance and styles of men and …

Predicting International Student Enrollment In U.S. Institutions By Institutional Characteristics: Using Fixed And Random Effects, Ibrahim Bicak, Z. W. Taylor

Journal of Educational Research and Practice

For the first time, international student enrollment in U.S. institutions of higher education declined for a second straight year in 2017–2018. As a result, we sought to understand which institutional characteristics predict international student enrollment, informing the international education community regarding possible institutional factors responsible for the decline in international student enrollment by using five-year panel data from 2013 Fall to 2017 Fall. Results from institutional fixed effects models revealed positive relationships between first-time international undergraduate enrollment and different variables such as institutional grant aid in bachelor’s institutions and student services expenses at private non-profit institutions in suburban settings. Contrary …

Tribute To John S. Mbiti, Joseph G. Healey, Mm

The Journal of Social Encounters

We continue to mourn John S. Mbiti, the Kenyan professor, author and theologian who died in Switzerland on 6 October, 2019 at the age of 87. He was one of the founders of our African Proverbs Project and the African Proverbs Working Group. He was one of cornerstones of our African Proverbs, Sayings and Stories Website.

Social Media And Utilization Of Information On Contagious Diseases: The Case Of Medical Students Of Abia State University Teaching Hospital Aba, Scholastica A.J. Chukwu Rev Sr Dr., Augonus Nnamdi Uhegbu Prof.

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

This research examines social media and utilization of information on contagious diseases by medical students of Abia State University Teaching Hospital Aba. The research adopts survey design to investigate a sample of 321 medical students of ABSU Teaching Hospital who were registered undergraduates in the 2017/2018 academic session. Because the number of the students was adequate and manageable, the research adopted the census sampling technique. Structured and validated questionnaire with a reliability coefficient value of 0.81 was used to gather data for the study. Results reveal that the medical students received and made use of information on contagious diseases from …

Herb Mayer Interviewed By Irene Burgess And Bruce Gentry, Herb Mayer, Irene Burgess, Bruce Gentry, Stephanie Opperman

Collecting the Past

In this week’s special episode, Irene Burgess and Bruce Gentry interview Herb Mayer.

Contextual Note: Prior to this conversation, Herb Mayer attended a virtual discussion between Dr. Angela Alaimo O’Donnell and Fr. Mark Bosco about O’Donnell’s recently released book, Radical Ambivalence: Race in Flannery O’Connor, so there are frequent references to her work

Application Of Flowsim For Traffic Management And Assessment In Shenzhen, Yuhan Jia, Jianping Wu, Yiman Du, Geqi Qi

Journal of System Simulation

Abstract: Recently many traffic problems are faced by more and more cities. Since traditional method can no longer solve the above problems, and Transportation Demand Management (TDM) solutions are in desperate need. Also, as a successful application of Intelligent Traffic System (ITS), traffic simulation software has become an efficient way to carry out assessment for TDM. The implementation of congestion charge policy in Shenzhen was studied as a demonstration of TDM in China. Then the microscopic traffic simulation software, FLOWSIM, was introduced to simulate the traffic situation to do assessment of congestion charge. Based on the results, advices …

Fujio Cho Legacy Lecture Notes, Fujio Cho, Kozo Saito

Institute of Research for Technology Development Textbook Gallery

The Fujio Cho legacy lecture was created in 2013 as part of UK Institute of Research for Technology Development (IR4TD)’s True Lean Systems program to assist industrial clients to transform their organizations to a True Lean organization by effectively using principles and tools of Toyota Production System (TPS). During the years 1987-1994, Cho and Saito worked together to layout the foundation of the now well-established Toyota-University of Kentucky relationship on R&D, True Lean Systems, and production engineering, housed in IR4TD, the Toyota endowed Institute established in 2007 with the support from the Commonwealth of Kentucky under the research competitiveness trust …

Housing Insecurity During The Coronavirus Response, Lauryn Quick, Colleen Heflin

Population Health Research Brief Series

COVID-19 has created numerous challenges for Americans in their ability to meet their basic needs. One specific economic challenge is the ability to pay mortgage or rent.