Digital Commons Network^™

Designing For The Dissonance: Community-Engaged Field Experiences For Challenging Curricular Misconceptions Of Place Toward Localizing And Indigenizing Curricula Within Elementary Teacher Education., Elaine Marhefka

Doctoral Dissertations

Harmful oversights remain in elementary social studies curricula which overlook or misrepresent minoritized communities. This dissertation explores designs for teacher education which address these oversights through community collaborations. This multi-manuscript dissertation is an empirical-conceptual inquiry design (Cochran-Smith & Lytle, 2009), as it is not purely empirical or conceptual research. This design allows for an independent discussion of each study, while interpreting phenomena across the three chapters. Acknowledging my positionality as a white female, in a predominantly white, female profession, I look to Indigenous and Black scholars, both locally and broadly, to inform my perspective and project design. Using a phenomenological …

Embedding Explicit Metacognitive Instruction Into The General Chemistry Curriculum: Equipping Community College Students With 21st Century Stem Competencies, Sonja Gamby

Doctoral Dissertations

This work describes the development, implementation, and assessment of a curriculum- embedded metacognition instruction model. The Talking About Learning is Key (TALK) module, a 10-week, discussion-based instruction module was initially integrated into a general chemistry course at a community college in Spring 2020. This case study was assessed qualitatively using a thematic analysis to characterize student posts and replies to the Learning Management System discussion board. Course outcomes between Spring 2020 – Fall 2021 were analyzed to determine what effect participation had on course completion and final grade.Finally, the generalizability of the module was investigated using a focused case comparison …

Synthesis, Modification, And Characterization Of Semiconductor Photocatalysts For Environmental Remediation, Norbert Okechukwu Okolie

Doctoral Dissertations

Semiconductor photocatalysis is a viable solution to tackle the increasing global demand for energy and the need for the recovery of wastewater in situ, without the need for fossil fuel dependence. Semiconductor materials active in the visible or near visible regions of light have been explored as suitable candidates for photocatalytic environmental remediation. Magnesium tantalates (MgTa2O6-xNx) were initially explored as promising candidates because their bandgaps can be brought well into the visible region by the introduction of nitrogen atoms as dopants. The synthesis of a highly ordered mesoporous nitrogen doped magnesium tantalate was achieved and the bandgap of magnesium tantalate …

A Mixed Methods Approach To Social License To Operate For Aquaculture: Understanding How Broad Public Perceptions And Local Company Actions Influence Community Acceptance, Emily H. Whitmore

Doctoral Dissertations

With aquaculture development becoming increasingly important in meeting global food needs, understanding social dynamics of development is essential. Social license to operate (SLO), a concept that describes community acceptance and approval of incoming industry, offers a lens into these dynamics and possible strategies for successful development. Using a mixed-methods approach, this project aimed to investigate how broad public perceptions and local company actions influence social license to operate in aquaculture. First, a systematic literature review of SLO studies identified perceptions that would likely condition a community’s willingness to issue social license, independent of company actions. These predictors included environmental values, …

Examining Empathy During An Initial Nutrition Counseling Session Through Video-Cued Narrative Reflection, Kevin Joseph Pietro

Doctoral Dissertations

Empathy is considered critical to client-centered care within the broader nutrition profession. Through empathy, practitioners are said to recognize the individual experience better, support client/patient autonomy, and encourage collaboration in decision-making regarding treatment. However, the literature on empathy is fraught with conceptual disagreement and methodological misalignment, which has resulted in a limited understanding of the role and presence of empathy within a nutrition counseling session. Additionally, research conducted on nutrition undergraduate students using self-reported questionnaires may offer insight into students’ perceived/believed tendencies related to empathy but fail to provide evidence of empathy during a patient/client interaction. Given the current landscape, …

Characterizing New Hampshire Salt Marshes Using Geospatial Technologies, Michael R. Routhier

Doctoral Dissertations

Salt marshes are coastal wetlands flooded regularly by saltwater tides and terrestrial runoff. They are highly productive and dynamic ecosystems that provide many benefits to the environment and humans. These benefits are at risk by many natural and anthropogenic drivers that are affecting the distribution of their vegetation species. Previous research shows that salt marsh vegetation around New England has been shifting from less flood-tolerant species to more flood-tolerant species in recent decades. Monitoring these ecosystems can be helpful in providing policymakers with the information they need to promote mitigation and restoration efforts for these environments. Remote sensing is one …

Modernism On The Edge Of The Anthropocene: The Ecological Imagination Of Forster, West, Warner, Woolf, And Eliot, Leanna Jean Lostoski-Ho

Doctoral Dissertations

By reading modernist literature on the edge of the Anthropocene, I argue in this dissertation that modernist authors, through the experimental aesthetics of their works, are able to articulate the beginnings of anthropogenic climate change in the early-twentieth century. The early-twentieth century, and particularly the interwar period, in which British modernist authors such as E. M. Forster, Rebecca West, Sylvia Townsend Warner, Virginia Woolf, and T. S. Eliot were writing coincides with the early-twentieth-century ramp up period of human activity rising to the level of a geological force before the beginning of the Anthropocene. While this dissertation does not argue …

The Environmental Implications Of War: Analysis Of The Spectacular And Slow Environmental Violence Inflicted Through Russia’S Deliberate Targeting And Weaponization Of Ukrainian Environments, Alexander Campanile Sheikh

Standard Theses

The presence of war and armed conflict can cause extreme effects in the long and short term, but war as a concept holds an inherently anthropocentric bias. Among human activities causing severe changes to the environment, war’s consequences are both intensive and far reaching, and while war is incited, perpetrated, and fought specifically by humans, these conflicts come at the expense of all, including a silent victim: the greater environment in which wars take place. Today, the conflict between Russia and Ukraine is the most significant confrontation in Europe in decades. Public attention and outrage, however, tends to focus on …

Medical Falsity: The False Claims Act’S Quagmire For Medicare And Medicaid Claims, Jordan R. Einhorn

Buffalo Law Review

No abstract provided.

Myth-Busting Restorative Justice: Uncovering The Past And Finding Lessons In Community, Aparna Polavarapu

Faculty Publications

A common narrative about modern restorative justice is that it is a revival of historic and indigenous justice practices that have been practiced around the world. Critics of this narrative call it a myth, arguing that the claim is overbroad and unsupported by existing evidence. Embedded in this conversation are questions about how to respect the contributions of indigenous traditions and avoid whitewashing. Such an overwhelmingly broad claim tends to lead to romanticization and whitewashing of indigenous traditions, serving the needs of largely white, Western advocates in yet another colonial endeavor. But ignoring the indigenous contribution to restorative justice altogether …

The Racialized Violence Of Police Canine Force, Madalyn K. Wasilczuk

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

The Lost Cause And The Commonwealth: The United Daughters Of The Confederacy And Forging Civil War Memory In Kentucky., Emma Donaghy

College of Arts & Sciences Senior Theses

For over a century, the Kentucky division of the United Daughters of the Confederacy has worked to instill the Lost Cause myth of the Confederacy in the state’s public schools, libraries, and places where a white child could learn about the past. Few scholars have studied the activities of the Kentucky division of the UDC, although some of the organization’s most influential work took place in the state, and the organization’s national founder, Caroline Meriwether Goodlett, was born in Todd County, Kentucky. This honors thesis offers an in-depth examination of the work of the Kentucky division, drawing from the rich …

Does Using Clicker Questions Before Instruction Improve Students' Conceptual Understanding., Edward "Walker" Goshorn

College of Arts & Sciences Senior Theses

Active learning can be incorporated into STEM classrooms in multiple ways. With exploratory learning, students explore a novel activity before learning the concepts or procedures. With personal response devices (e.g., clickers), students respond to real-time questions posed during lecture. The current studies examined whether, and how, clicker questions can be used as exploratory learning, to improve students’ conceptual understanding and engagement over traditional instruction. Biology professors integrated clicker questions into a lecture, and either closed the clicker poll prior to (Restricted Clicker Experiment, N = 164) or after (Extended Clicker Experiment, N = 188) giving feedback to the class. Undergraduate …

The Philosophy Of Activism And Its Paradox., Omar Arar

College of Arts & Sciences Senior Theses

Activist organizations have been at the forefront of countless progressive efforts, seeking to ameliorate social injustices, expand the rights of marginalized people, and strengthen democratic institutions. However, the efforts of activists always seem to lead to incremental victories or a minimal change to the status quo. In this paper, I argue that the primary cause of this largely stagnant social justice landscape is the professionalization of activism. Activism in its professional form, as people who make a living out of their activist efforts, brings with it numerous issues, the most problematic among them is the manifestation a paradox. Namely, professional …

Interpreting San Cecilio: Ritual And Discourse In A Granadan Celebration., Martha M. Popescu

College of Arts & Sciences Senior Theses

The romería de San Cecilio is an annual, local short pilgrimage and celebration of the patron saint of Granada, a city in Andalusia, Spain. The romería takes place at the Abbey of Sacromonte, a monastery built on top of the site where San Cecilio’s remains were found as part of the famous discoveries of the Lead Books of Granada in the late sixteenth century. These books were ultimately declared to be Islamic forgeries, yet the romería persists today as a granadino, or Granadan, tradition. Consisting of both a Mass at the Abbey as well as a popular celebration, the …

The Substance Use Disorder Peer Workforce In Texas And The United States: Assessing And Addressing The Workforce Development And Economic Evaluation Gaps, Sierra Castedo De Martell

Dissertations and Theses (Open Access)

The infrastructure for addressing problematic substance use and substance use disorder (SUD) across the US has shortages in many areas, and suffered additional challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic. One method to address shortages in SUD care infrastructure relatively quickly is to expand the peer workforce delivering peer recovery support services (PRSS). This workforce has expanded to cover most US states over the past two decades, but gaps in the evidence base for peer workforce development and economic evaluations of PRSS have persisted. To address these gaps, three studies were undertaken with the following aims: (1) Conducted a systematic review of …

The Effects Of Meditation On Stress In High School Students, Cara Szeghy, Cara Szeghy

Mindfulness Studies Theses

Abstract

Young people today face many challenges including stress from social relationships, academic pressures at school, racism, social injustice, and the pandemic. This paper examines the efficacy of using practical and accessible meditation techniques to help decrease stress in high school students. Prior research on some of the causes of stress within this age group, including the history of mindfulness, the attention economy, incorporation of techniques into classroom curricula, and teaching meditation techniques to the high school age population, is explored. Further research on the benefits of teaching meditation to high school students, including a thorough examination of the complex …

Understanding The Impact Of Artificial Intelligence On Newsroom Social Culture And Journalistic Performative Roles : A Qualitative Case Study Of Ai As An Emerging Digital Innovative Technology In Newsrooms, Chad S. Owsley

Communication Faculty Publications

Throughout the evolution of journalism, innovative technology has played a pivotal role in shaping the production and consumption of news. The transformative power of disruptive technology has revolutionized the journalism industry in the past by impacting the society it serves through the diffusion of innovation. Artificial Intelligence, when operationalized for use in journalism, has the propensity to be a disruptive technology, possibly transforming the industry in significant and meaningful ways. This research investigates the impact of Artificial Intelligence as an emerging digital innovative technology on journalism and mass communication from a sociological and historical context. The aim of this study …

Sequence Analysis Of Herbicide Target Genes In Herbicide-Tolerant Rice, Jonathan Kearney, Nilda R. Burgos, Gulab D. Rangani

Biological Sciences Undergraduate Honors Theses

The tolerance of mutagenized rice (Oryza sativa) lines to selector herbicides was investigated and the sequence of ALS gene was analyzed in plants that survived treatment with 4x the label rate of imazethapyr herbicide. This was done to determine if insensitivity to imazethapyr is due to mutation(s) in the herbicide binding site. Seedlots previously treated with ethyl-methyl sulfonate were planted in the field and 3-leaf seedlings were treated with various herbicides to screen for herbicide-tolerant mutants. Seeds from survivors composed the rice lines tested in the current research. Seeds were planted in the greenhouse and 3-leaf seedlings were …

Co-Design Disaster Management Chatbot With Indigenous Communities, Chun-Hua Tsai, Paul Rayi, Sathvik Kadire, Yi-Fan Wang, Sarah Krafka, Edouardo Zendejas, Yu-Che Chen

Information Systems and Quantitative Analysis Faculty Publications

Indigenous communities are disproportionately impacted by rising disaster risk, climate change, and environmental degradation due to their close relationship with the environment and its resources. Unfortunately, gathering the necessary information or evidence to request or co-share sufficient funds can be challenging for indigenous people and their lands. This paper aims to co-design an AI-based chatbot with two tribes and investigate their perception and experience of using it in disaster reporting practices. The study was conducted in two stages. Firstly, we interviewed experienced first-line emergency managers and invited tribal members to an in-person design workshop. Secondly, based on qualitative analysis, we …

Jonathan’S Rust Adventures And The Quest For The Numerically Stable Soft-Sphere Integrator, Jonathan Pascal Rotter

Computer Science Honors Theses

In this thesis I will implement a numerically stable soft-sphere collision model using Hooke’s Law as the restoring force. This model allows choosing a desired coefficient of restitution and maximum penetration depth in order to generate appropriate values for the spring constant and damping. Then I will explore the applicability of various languages to the field of kD-tree based N-body simulations, concluding that Rust is competitive in both the time and memory usage to C/C++, which are the languages traditionally used for high-performance applications. Additionally, I found that the usage of higher-level languages like Java come at significant time or …

Spatial And Statistical Analysis Of Groundwater Contaminants In Shallow And Deep Aquifers Of The Central Valley Of California, Mark G F Nickels

Earth and Environmental Geosciences Student Honors Theses

The sediment aquifer of California’s Central Valley is threatened by various contaminants including arsenic (As), iron (Fe), manganese (Mn), and uranium (U). In this region more than six million people and an agricultural industry worth over 20 billion dollars (Faunt et al., 2016) rely predominantly on groundwater, and contamination poses both health risks and financial burdens due to costly remediation. I seek to identify the physical and geochemical processes that mobilize contaminants observed at levels that far exceed both federal and state regulatory standards. Contaminants such as As and U naturally occur in sediment and can be mobilized by either …

The Echo: May 1, 2023, Taylor University

2022-2023 (Volume 110)

No abstract provided.

Concerned Philosophers For Peace, Vol. 31 (2023), Concerned Philosophers For Peace

Concerned Philosophers for Peace

Contents of this issue:

• President’s Page (2)
• Calls for Papers and Reviewers (3)
• Member Profile: Dr. Bill Gay (4)
• Essay: “Why is Nonviolence an Ethical Response to Populist Violence?” by Alvin Tan (5)
• Essay Prizes (6)
• CPP at the APA (7-8)
• Essay: Roots, by Barry L. Gan (9)
• Essay: Striving for Perpetual Peace on the Brink of the New Cold War, by Edward Demenchonok (9)
• Book Discussion: Ludic Ubuntu Ethics: Decolonizing Justice, by Mechthild Nagel (10)
• Book Discussion: Reintroducing Politics of War and Peace: A Survey of Thought, by Stephana Landwehr (10)
• Calls for Papers and Conference Announcements (20-22) …

Automation In Aviation: An Advancement Or Hindrance To Aviation Safety?, Laquinton Paul Armbrister

Theses (2016-Present)

Transportation at large is becoming increasingly automated, and aviation has often been at the forefront of this technological movement. Automation’s presence in the cockpit has been quite advantageous by improving economics, enhancing safety, and arguably reducing workload. However, its implementation has also presented several challenges, including but not limited to complacency and overreliance on automation, manufacturer design errors, and automation surprise. To overcome these challenges and mitigate safety issues preemptively, methods and strategies must be devised to improve the implementation of automation in aviation. Upon review of eight case studies from accident reports where the use of automation was a …

The Family Medical Leave Act: The Current Regulations And Future Recommended Changes, Olivia Schmidt

Management Undergraduate Honors Theses

The Family Medical Leave Act was implemented in 1993, affecting thousands of employees. This act allows caregivers the time to care for their loved ones and for people to take the time they need to heal and care for themselves, all while maintaining their careers. While the workforce and it’s needs have changed over the years, FMLA has remained stagnant with minimal adjustments at the federal level. There are many different aspects to FMLA including different state regulations, different industry effects, and the special case of the airline industry. While FMLA was an important change in 1993, it needs to …

A Contemporary Dressing Of Henrik Ibsen’S Hedda Gabler, Heidi Rose Decaluwe

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The following thesis describes the process of creating the costume designs for the production of Hedda Gabler that was produced at the University Theatre at The University of Arkansas in the spring of 2023. In this thesis, I will explain the process, from my initial response to the script to the final stage production. Included is a full script analysis, an extrapolation of the stages of design, from research to rough sketches and preliminary renderings, final color renderings, the process of turning renderings into fully realized costumes, and finally an evaluation of the entire process.

Unveiling The Ancestral Function Of A Neuroendocrine Regulator, Pou-I/Pit1: Insights From Gene Expression Analysis In The Sea Anemone Nematostella Vectensis, Miguel Agostinho Pina Da Silva

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Cnidaria (i.e., sea anemones, jellyfish, corals) and Bilateria (i.e., vertebrates, sea stars, fruit flies), are sister groups that diverged around 600 million years ago. Despite the long evolutionary time, many cellular differentiation mechanisms, cell types, tissues and behaviors are conserved. Such as neurons, mechanosensory hair cells, feeding behaviors, peristaltic movements, and sleep. Recent advances in genomics, molecular biology and microscopy have fueled an increased interest in understanding cnidarian nervous and neuroendocrine systems. Understanding the developmental mechanisms and the mode of operation of Cnidarian nervous systems helps to reconstruct the ancestral nervous system of the last common ancestor of Cnidaria and …

The Whispering Voices Behind The Poetry Of Robert Browning And Matthew Arnold: Three Theoretical Approaches To Selected Works: Formalist, Psychoanalytic, And Marxist, Gabriel M. Cisneros

Theses (2016-Present)

Throughout the literary world, many critics have attempted to pinpoint the root cause for the sudden changes in style and attitude about writing the poetry that ultimately chased Robert Browning and Matthew Arnold into developing their own style in which to convey their innermost compassion for humanity. They hid their injured poetic souls; they hid their innermost thoughts, but they expressed themselves through their characters. By expressing themselves as the voice behind the speaker, they were able to create an artificial mask and utilize the mask as a method of capitalizing on the very essence of what the dramatic monologue …

Effectiveness Variation Of Different Census Outreach Activities: An Empirical Analysis From The State Of Illinois Using Machine Learning And User Interface Technologies For Participatory Data Collection, Anton Rozhkov, Ahoura Zandiatashbar, Dean Massey, Jaeyong Shin, Janet Smith, Moira Zellner

Faculty Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity

Major social changes stem from policies that their developments heavily rely on public participation in the decennial U.S. Census. For individual states, the population counts determine representation in the U.S. House of Representatives and the amount of federal funding each state receives, leading to state outreach efforts to encourage participation in the census. The present empirical study uses advanced data collection technologies based on a user interface (UI) and machine learning techniques (k-means clustering, random forest, gradient boosting) to analyze the effectiveness of the outreach activities organized by the State of Illinois. As a result, we assess various types of …