Digital Commons Network^™

The Effect Of Context Diversity In Virtual Reality Environments On Speech Motor Learning In A Person With Aphasia And Apraxia Of Speech, Shelby Keeler Holloway

Theses and Dissertations

This study explored the effect of contextual diversity on speech motor learning in an individual with apraxia of speech (AOS) using virtual reality (VR). One 62-year-old participant with severe AOS participated in the study where he practiced monosyllabic CVC words in both consistent and diverse VR environments. Kinematic, acoustic, and perceptual data were collected and evaluated for evidence of learning. Kinematic data were collected using electromagnetic articulography where sensors were glued to the participant's upper lip, lower lip, tongue blade, and tongue tip and were tracked with high precision. In addition, acoustic and perceptual data were collected using a microphone …

How Fun Overcame Fear: The Gamification Of A Graduate-Level Statistics Course, Mai P. Trinh, Robert J. Chico, Rachel M. Reed

Management Faculty Publications

Innovative instructional methods can help improve student engagement and learning outcomes when teaching difficult subjects, such as statistics. This instructional innovation article illustrates how gamification can be applied in management education to improve students’ learning experience, engagement, and acquisition of knowledge. Our purpose is to demonstrate how gamification is not only a powerful way to build on the use of games and game thinking in our field, but also a versatile application of education technology that could potentially enhance the way management knowledge is taught. Furthermore, it is a low-risk way for management educators to join and contribute to the …

The Effect Of Employee-Oriented Hrm On Employee Downsizing Following Mergers & Acquisitions, Pingshu Li, Mengwei Li, Hyesook Chung, Clint Chadwick

Management Faculty Publications

Firms have increasingly engaged in Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A) activities in recent years. A common strategy following M&A is employee downsizing that aims at achieving strategic goals and enhancing performance. This approach, however, raises concerns from a strategic human resource management (HRM) perspective. Research suggests that downsizing may breach employees' psychological contracts and hinder the development of firm-specific human capital. While this viewpoint has an intuitive appeal, we reconsider it by suggesting that, in the M&A context wherein employees expect significant organizational changes, downsizing does not necessarily lead employees to negative reactions. Instead, if acquiring firms have strong employee-oriented HRM …

Large-Scale Hpc-Empowered Power Electronics Modeling And Simulation In Photovoltaic Applications, Liwei Wang

All Dissertations

The rising popularity of renewable energy sources requires advanced, efficient power electronic systems for energy conversion, grid integration, and system management, thereby raising expectations for power electronics in the energy industry. The complexity of modern power electronic systems requires comprehensive simulations and in-depth analysis to predict performance accurately, but this process is impeded by prolonged simulation times. The primary objective of this dissertation is to develop a high-fidelity, high-speed event-driven simulator to tackle challenges related to mass data processing, uncertainty evaluation, as well as modeling and simulation issues in assessing the reliability of power electronics in large-scale Photovoltaic (PV) systems. …

Voices From The Countryside: Unveiling The Stories Of Rural Teachers In Stem Education, Devan A. Jones

All Dissertations

This narrative study delves into the overlooked perspective of rural communities within the broader educational landscape, highlighting their unique and vital role in education. It primarily aims to gain insights from K-8 teachers working in multigrade, multi-curricular Sustained Deep Rurality (SDR) schools situated in the challenging terrain of the Northern Rocky Mountain area. Employing a methodology centered around episodic narrative interviews and small story analysis, the study uncovers the intricacies and challenges inherent in teaching under the extreme conditions of rural environments.

These SDR schools, situated in remote and isolated regions, serve as vital pillars in rural education, embodying qualities …

Ultra High-Performance Concrete As A High Friction Surface Treatment For Pavements And Bridges, Kyle Maeger

All Dissertations

High Friction Surface Treatment (HFST) is a proven technology to reduce crashes on roadways by increasing the coefficient of friction between vehicle tires and the pavement. However, it is an expensive solution due to the high cost of the two commonly used constituent materials, calcined bauxite aggregate and epoxy resin binders.

This study evaluated the abrasion resistance performance of four alternative HFST aggregates to calcined bauxite using Los Angeles Abrasion and Micro-Deval Abrasion tests, and studied the surface texture utilizing a high-resolution laser scanner and friction utilizing the British Pendulum Test.

This study also assessed the performance of non-proprietary Ultra …

Investigating The Etiology, Epidemiology, And Ecology Of Blackberry Yellow Vein Disease In South Carolina, Wanita Dantes

All Dissertations

Blackberry production is growing in popularity in the southeastern U.S. However, blackberry growers in this region report major problems with productivity and longevity due to viruses. First, the state of knowledge on blackberry yellow vein disease (BVYD) complex, associated with mixed infections of a diverse group of viruses, is discussed. Specific viruses associated with symptom types are unknown. Therefore, the etiology of BYVD is not fully understood, which makes BYVD diagnosis challenging. My research focused on improving BYVD diagnosis, etiology, and epidemiology. Second, I developed a farm-level diagnostic protocol to improve virus disease surveillance. High throughput sequencing detected 17 known …

Parent Advocacy For Literacy Intervention: A Case Study Of Motivations And Experiences, Meghan Malloy

All Dissertations

While systems of support are used in schools to assist students’ academic growth, parents are not always informed of the support process or the academic goals set for their child (RTI Action Network, n.d.; Troisi, 2014; Weingarten et al., 2020). In the aftermath of the pandemic, students present a wide variety of academic needs (Lewis et al., 2021; Maldonado & De Witte, 2020), underscoring the importance of parent advocacy. In situations where a student needs additional supports, such as literacy intervention, the parent may become the child’s best advocate (Besnoy et al., 2015).

Using a multiple case study design, the …

Fundamental Study Of Nonlinear Electrophoresis, Joseph Armakan Bentor

All Dissertations

Classical electrophoretic theory describes the linear response of particles suspended in Newtonian fluids under weak electric fields. When the electric field exceeds this weak limit, a nonlinear response arises due to non-uniform surface conduction over the curved particles. This nonlinear behavior introduces dependencies on fluid and particle properties not considered in the classical theory, offering potential advantages for microfluidic particle manipulation. While this phenomenon has been extensively studied theoretically and numerically in Newtonian fluids, experimental investigations have been relatively limited.

Fluid rheology can significantly alter particle dynamics under applied electric fields. Rheological properties like shear-thinning and elasticity which are not …

Effect Of Long-Term Use Of Antimicrobials On Commonly Used Surfaces In Foodservice Establishments, Anuradhi Bandaranayake

All Dissertations

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Brought What I Needed To Succeed: Community Cultural Wealth In The Persistence Experiences Of Former Division Ii Black Women Basketball Players Who Graduated From Predominantly White Institutions, Tomiko T. Smalls

All Dissertations

Limited research exists to examine the persistence experiences of Black women student-athletes who graduated from predominantly White institutions and to explore their experiences at institutions with Division II membership. This purpose of this study was to examine factors related to the positive graduation outcomes of Black women student-athletes who graduated from predominantly White institutions. The research question was: How did former Division II Black women basketball players engage community cultural wealth to persist to graduation at predominantly White institutions? Five former Division II basketball players who graduated from predominantly White institutions located in the southeastern region of the United Stated …

Base Case Shear-Wave Velocity Profiles And Non-Linear Material Property Models Of Local Site Conditions In South Carolina For Seismic Site Response Analyses, Ali Sedaghat Shirehjini

All Dissertations

This dissertation presents the development of base case small-strain shear-wave velocity ( ) profiles and non-linear materials property models of local site conditions in South Carolina for seismic site response analyses. The need to address South Carolina's seismic hazards is partly motivated by the 1886 Charleston earthquake (moment magnitude, M_w= 6.7 to 7.5). Required inputs for seismic site response analysis include profile down to a specified reference outcrop condition and non-linear material properties for each layer in the profile. Although firm rock (i.e., ≥ 2,500 ft/s) or hard rock (i.e., ≥ 9,850 ft/s) is commonly assumed for the …

No Longer Unseen Or Unheard: Exploring The Connectedness Of Campus Climate With Multiracial Students’ Experiences At Historically White Institutions In The United States, Christian Barrientos

All Dissertations

This qualitative research study will illustrate the link(s) between Multiracial students and their perceptions of campus climate at historically White institutions and how that impacts their sense of belonging. Existing bodies of literature and research have focused more extensively on monoracial students of color than Multiracial students. As a result, there is a formidable gap in the literature about how Multiracial students navigate their racial identity at historically White institutions and how multiracial students perceive campus climate based on their experienced sense of belonging. The use of Kellogg and Liddell (2012) will serve as a guide for this research study. …

Preparing For Kindergarten: An In-Depth Look At The Lived Experiences Of Parents Preparing A Child For Kindergarten, Grace Bache-Wiig

All Dissertations

The purpose of this multi-modal phenomenological study was to examine the lived experiences of parents preparing their first child for kindergarten and to evaluate the sources of information used to inform these experiences. Eight parents of rising kindergarteners were sampled for interviewing from preschool and homeschool settings in North Carolina. Semi-structured interviews were conducted to explore participant experiences and participants identified sources of information to be gathered for content analysis. The interview transcripts were analyzed using van Manen’s approach to identify units of meaning. Four major themes emerged from this study: emotions about kindergarten readiness, an emphasis on social and …

An Emergency Response System To Assist The Movement Of Vehicles During Emergency Operations In Urban Transportation Networks, Jamal Nahofti Kohneh

All Dissertations

Emergency responders need to arrive at the emergency scene as soon as possible, but operating vehicles under emergency conditions can pose a risk to both the responders and other road users, potentially resulting in crashes or delays in emergency operations. In this research, an emergency response system is proposed to assist emergency and non-emergency response vehicles (ERVs and non-ERVs) during emergency operations in a connected vehicle environment. This system collects the information from connected ERVs and non-ERVs, utilizes this information as inputs in the proposed models, and sends instruction messages back to vehicles. The proposed models provide the fastest ERV …

Gan With Skip Patch Discriminator For Biological Electron Microscopy Image Generation, Nishith Ranjon Roy

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

GAN models have been successfully used for image generation in various sections such as real-life objects like human faces, cars, animal faces, landscapes, etc. This work focuses on biological electron microscopy (EM) image generation. Unlike other real-life objects, biological EM images are obtained through electron microscopy techniques to study biological specimens. Electron microscopy offers high resolution and magnification capabilities, making it a powerful tool for visualizing biological structures at the nanoscale. However, using GAN models for biological EM image generation poses challenges due to the complex and unique arrangements of biological structures and the sparse and asymmetrical patterns in EM …

Feasibility Assessment And Container Traffic Forecasting Of Inland Waterway Container On Barge Transportation, Fan Bu

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Container on Barge (COB) transportation is an intermodal freight transport mode that moves shipping containers via barges on navigable inland and intracoastal waterways. During the past twenty years, COB has been a growing mode of container shipping globally due to its low-cost, eco-friendly, and congestion-reducing characteristics. Europe and China are currently leading global COB transportation, and the United States (U.S.) may have the potential to achieve economic benefits through the implementation of COB within its intermodal transportation system. To explore this potential, this dissertation investigates the implementation feasibility of COB transportation within the U.S. intermodal freight transportation system. Three contributions …

A Grounded Theory Study Of White Educators' Conceptualizations And Negotiations Of Culturally Centered Practices In Colleges Of Agriculture And Related Sciences, Isabel M. Whitehead-Adams

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The racial and ethnic demographics of higher education are becoming increasingly diverse; however, faculty demographics remain predominantly White. With agriculture being one of the largest economic sectors, often with many roles to fill, recruiting and retaining racially and ethnically diverse students into agricultural and related science post-secondary programs, hereby referred to as agricultural programs, is crucial to drawing talent into the agricultural workforce. However, racial and ethnic demographics among students in post-secondary agricultural programs also remain predominantly White. Established pedagogical approaches for supporting culturally diverse have been established, such as Culturally Responsive Teaching. There is little to no research exploring …

Antiracism In Higher Education: An Integrated Psychological Perspective, Rhea E. Nesbitt

Dissertations, 2020-current

Antiracism is a complicated and important term with prominent, influential voices claiming that systemic equity and the reconfiguration of white identity are the central solutions to eradicating American racism. Within the profound sociocultural effects of the existing antiracist rhetoric, there is vagueness, conflict, and incoherence. Language serves as a fundamental aspect of human experience, facilitating individual meaning-making and comprehension. Effective communication hinges on the ability to articulate subjective experiences and justifications clearly, a challenge evident in discussions surrounding antiracism. Despite advocating for antiracism as crucial and unending work, scholars recognize significant hurdles, including unclear responsibilities for implementation and entrenched structures …

Candida Albicans Farnesol Synthesis And Secretion, Daniel J. Gutzmann

School of Biological Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Candida albicans is a polymorphic fungus and opportunistic commensal found primarily in the gastrointestinal and skin of healthy individuals. Several barriers prevent C. albicans from causing disease including a healthy immune system and microbiome. When these barriers become comprised, C. albicans can transition to a pathogen and disseminate through the intestinal mucosa leading to life-threatening bloodstream and invasive infections with mortality rates of up to 64%. Morphogenic plasticity is key to this transition and impacts virulence, adaptation to different host environments, and evasion of host immune responses. One regulator of morphogenesis is farnesol. Farnesol is a secondary metabolite of …

Training A Behavior Technician In The Implementation Of The System Of Least Prompts Using Behavioral Skills Training, Clara Wincheski

Masters Theses, 2020-current

The purpose of this study was to extend the literature base on behavioral skills training (BST) to detail its effects in assisting a behavior technician (BT) in acquisition of the skills necessary to implement a response prompting procedure, system of least prompts (SLP). This inquiry was guided by the following research questions: (1) What are the effects of BST on the acquisition of SLP across three behaviors of a BT? and (2) Does the BT accept this intervention as socially significant, and tangentially, does a Board Certified Behavior Analyst also find it to be socially significant within the context of …

New Resource Nejm Ai, Chad Metz

TMC Library Newsletter (2015-)

We're excited to announce the addition of the New England Journal of Medicine: AI to our collection. This cutting-edge resource provides in-depth coverage of the latest artificial intelligence applications in medicine.

To access NEJM AI, simply search for the title in the library catalog or visit the Find Journals link.

Guiding The Management Of Acute Promyelocytic Leukemia: A Quality Improvement Project, Lauren Sheldon, Donna M. Tydings, Tara L. Sacco

Nursing Doctoral

Background: Despite successful treatment regimens and remission rates of greater than 90%, early death is a concern for patients with acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL). The challenges surrounding proper care for APL are centered on the low volume of patients, which limits healthcare professionals’ knowledge of disease management.

Objectives: The purpose of this project was to develop resources and present an educational module specific to managing patients newly diagnosed with APL. An intervention to evaluate bedside nurses’ knowledge of APL was implemented.

Methods: Thirty-four RNs were recruited for participation. A clinical practice guideline, an algorithm, and a fact sheet were developed …

Cubic Soft Ideals On B-Algebra For Solving Complex Problems: Trend Analysis, Proofs, Improvements, And Applications, Muhammad Saeed, Hafiz Inam Ul Haq, Mubashir Ali

Neutrosophic Systems with Applications

In this paper, we introduce the concepts of cubic soft (CS) algebra, CS o-subalgebra, and CS ideals within the framework of B-algebra. We provide comprehensive characterizations of these new structures, elucidating their unique properties and interrelationships. Specifically, we present detailed conditions under which a CS subalgebra can be classified as a closed CS ideal. Our analysis explores the intricate relationships among closed cubic soft ideals, cubic soft subalgebras, and cubic soft o-subalgebras. By doing so, we aim to provide a deeper understanding of how these structures interact and coexist within the broader context of B-algebra The findings offer significant insights …

Divergence Measures And Aggregation Operators For Single-Valued Neutrosophic Sets With Applications In Decision-Making Problems, Surender Singh, Sonam Sharma

Neutrosophic Systems with Applications

Single-valued neutrosophic sets (SVNSs) facilitate the representation of uncertain information more extensively than conventional methods. The study of divergence measures of SVNSs is important due to their applications in different areas like multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM), pattern recognition, cluster analysis, machine learning, etc., In this paper, we introduce a divergence measure for SVNSs. The suggested divergence measure is applied to cluster analysis for the classification of imprecise data. For establishing the reasonability and advantage of the suggested divergence measure in a clustering problem over the existing measures, a comparative assessment is also presented. Furthermore, we introduce, an inferior ratio method for …

The Growth Mindset Revolution, Paula Bibiana Garcia Cardona, Martha Isabel Tejada Sanchez, Martha Ramirez

GHEA21 Open Educational Resources

The Growth Mindset Revolution is a manual for educators designed to support the development of a growth mindset culture within the perspectives of Universal Design for Learning (UDL) and interculturality. As an in-service or pre-service educator in higher or technical education, one will find explanations, lesson plans, resources, videos, and podcasts with testimonials that will help you create pedagogical practices that encourage growth and development for your students. We invite you to use this guide as a reference in the field of teacher education and professional development and related areas, promoting a mindset transformation for a global network of educators.

Exposing The Pervasive Culture Of Whiteness At Predominantly White Institutions: A Narrative Analysis Of White Deans Of Students' Understanding And Role In Responses To Campus Racial Incidents, Jennifer Helen Reid

Graduate Doctoral Dissertations

Deeply embedded in U.S. higher education institutions is a culture of whiteness that benefits white students, staff, faculty, and administrators through racist policies, structures, and cultural norms designed to uphold whiteness. This culture not only minimizes the presence of racism, but also is pervasive on college campuses, where administrators often fail to recognize blatant racism and treat ongoing campus racial incidents as isolated events. Despite the frequency of racial incidents, campus responses are typically ineffective, failing to address the underlying institutional practices that reinforce white supremacy and further harm those affected. This study explored the experiences of white deans of …

Activist Scholars: Faculty Of Color Navigating Institutional Rewards And Punishments, Mai H. Vang

Graduate Doctoral Dissertations

Faculty of color (FoC) often engage in social justice scholarship that focuses on the needs of minoritized communities. Yet, FoC often are subjected to suspicion and scrutiny over concerns of objectivity and academic rigor. Despite these barriers, FoC have demonstrated successfully navigating traditional institutional reward systems while making significant contributions to social justice knowledge and knowledge production at research-intensive higher education institutions. Exploring how tenured FoC at research intensive higher education institutions have earned academic success while engaging non-traditional approaches to knowledge production is important to higher education’s mission to broaden scholarship to be practical, political, and beneficial to society. …

Unraveling Collective Anomalies In Data-Driven Systems: Manifestation, Detection, And Enhancement Implications, Mohammad Bakhsh

Graduate Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation presents an in-depth investigation into collective anomalies—complex patterns of data that deviate from the norm when considered as a group, rather than individually. It encompasses three pivotal studies that explore the intricacies of identifying and analyzing these anomalies within online customer reviews and urban traffic patterns. The research initially focuses on the subtle shifts in consumer feedback patterns, highlighting the challenges of detecting early signs of collective anomalies. It then advances to the analysis of urban traffic, emphasizing the detection of anomalous trajectory patterns and their implications for urban planning. The final study introduces a spatio-temporal framework to …

Advancing Methods For Studying The Neuroscience Of Sex Variability And Diversity, Vic Shao-Chih Chiang

Graduate Doctoral Dissertations

Sex variability and diversity are pervasive across taxa and genera. Society is heavily structured around sex/gender conceptualizations, and neuroscience research actively shapes these constructs. This dissertation adopts frameworks that challenge ideologies perpetuating sex/gender injustices and developed neuroscience-related methodologies that could advance the conceptualisations of sex. First, I studied B6D2F1 mice which exhibit sexual behaviour months after castration. This challenged the dogma that sexual behaviour is dependent on gonadal steroid hormones. I enhanced the behavioural analysis of these mice using deep learning techniques. Second, applying similar deep learning methods, I refined the behavioural analysis of Astatotilapia burtoni cichlids, which exhibit sexual …