Digital Commons Network^™

Optimizing The Use Of Sustainable Additives In Subgrade Soil Stabilization, Orchi Mallick

Student Theses and Dissertations

Subgrade soil critically impacts pavement lifespan, where poor conditions lead to premature failure. This study evaluates soil stabilization of AASTHO classified, A-4 and A-6 soil, using sustainable additives: Rice Husk Ash (RHA), Reclaimed Fly Ash (RFA), and a traditional stabilizer Hydrated Lime (HL). Laboratory tests (Atterberg Limits, Modified Proctor, California Bearing Ratio (CBR), and Free Swell) were conducted on untreated and treated soils with RHA (3%, 6%, and 9% by weight), HL (1%, 3%, and 5% by weight), RFA (4%, 6%, and 8% by weight), and combinations of HL + RHA. Results showed all stabilizers improved strength and reduced swell. …

Self-Efficacy Of Kindergarten, First, And Second Grade Educators Teaching Students With Behavioral Issues In South Carolina Public Schools, Kathryn Sommer-Gough

Student Theses and Dissertations

Teaching students with behavioral challenges can impact elementary school teachers’ self-efficacy. This study examined the perceived lack of preparation among educators in managing such students. Guided by Bandura’s self-efficacy theory, this qualitative phenomenological study explored the experiences of kindergarten through second-grade general education teachers. Ten South Carolina teachers participated in three Zoom interviews each, discussing their self-efficacy and administrative support. Analysis revealed five key themes: self-efficacy, training, effects of students with behavioral issues, support, and frustrations. Teachers reported increased confidence after developing classroom management strategies, though these techniques were largely self-taught rather than formally provided. Future research should examine the …

The War On Tourer: An Analysis In Terrorism’S Effect On Tourism, Jacob M. Strawn

Student Theses and Dissertations

Tourism is the third largest global export, representing seven percent of all global trade(UNWTO 2021). Many developing countries now depend on tourism to achieve sustainableeconomic growth, a core component of the UN’s 2030 Sustainable Development Goals. Priorstudies of this phenomenon focus on isolated case-studies, mostly based on limited data. Inthis thesis I examine how terrorist incidents and fatalities affect international tourist arrivalsin 93 developing countries from 1995 to 2020. Special focus is placed on potential variablesthat may effect some countries more than others like Post-9/11 Anxiety. An increase in terrorattacks is associated with a decrease in tourism. A separate analysis …

Genetic Structuring Of The Ozark Pocket Gopher (Geomys Bursarius Ozarkensis) And Coevolution With Its Geomydoecus Ectoparasites, Monica Raquel Reusche

Student Theses and Dissertations

The Ozark pocket gopher Geomys bursarius ozarkensis is a highly isolated and restricted subspecies of the plains pocket gopher endemic to Izard Co., Arkansas. This isolation may have impacts genetically and may have caused speciation of their chewing louse. First, I updated the distribution and confirmed occupation at 46 previously documented and 91 additional sites, a 34% increase in areal range. Next, I evaluated natal dispersal which was rare (9.1%) and occurred over shorter distances (≤ 63 m) than for other gopher species. Analysis of single nucleotide polymorphisms from contemporary populations and museum specimens indicated a high genetic structure among …

Examining Black Teachers’ Experiences And Perspectives Of Community Cultural Wealth Within Their Hbcu Teacher Preparation Programs, Deajanae K. Mclain

Student Theses and Dissertations

The success of Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) in the state of Mississippi in preparing Black educators is a topic that needed more up-to-date research. With media and research often highlighting institutional challenges at HBCUs rather than achievements, this study takes a different turn and highlights how HBCUs in the state of Mississippi successfully prepare Black teachers for the profession. This phenomenological study investigated how novice, Black teachers experienced Community Cultural Wealth (CCW) during their teacher preparation programs (TPPs) at public HBCUs in Mississippi. While HBCUs produce half of all Black teachers nationally, limited research examines how cultural assets …

Arkansas High School Teacher Perceptions About Declining Enrollment And Learning Experiences In Advanced Science Courses, Tanya Lynette Ruble

Student Theses and Dissertations

Student enrollment in advanced high school science courses in Arkansas, specifically Chemistry, Physics, AP Biology, AP Chemistry, and AP Physics has declined since 2014. Colleges across the nation recommend that students take Biology, Chemistry, and Physics in high school to prepare for rigorous science majors in college. Decreased enrollment in these subjects can lead to fewer college science majors and impact the preparation of students for careers in STEM fields such as engineering and healthcare. This qualitative phenomenological study utilized three research questions to explore the reasons for the decline in advanced high school science course enrollment in Arkansas. It …

Front Matter, Arianna Medina

Western Journal of Orthopaedics

No abstract provided.

Full Issue, Arianna Medina

Western Journal of Orthopaedics

No abstract provided.

Front Matter, New Mexico Law Review

New Mexico Law Review

No abstract provided.

A New Model For Educational Program Assessments Using Automated Collective Concept Maps, Andrew R. Paullin

Master's Theses (2009 -)

This paper presents: Epistemological principles; the origins and theoretical foundations of concept maps; the current state of related works; the contributions, methods, results, and future road map of this research; and A New Model for Educational Program Assessments. An understanding that knowledge results from an evolution of cognitive structures enables a scientific approach to enhance the efficiency of learning. Building on prior works, this research provides a novel algorithm and tool to automatically create Collective Concept Maps from Individual Concept Maps by utilizing a dictionary, thesaurus, Natural Language Processing, Machine Learning / Artificial Intelligence, and domain expertise. Abstraction Filters enable …

Can A Picture Paint A Thousand Words? Visualising Variety In Challenge-Based Learning, Clare Gormley, Hyowon Lee, Deiric Ó Broin, Cliona Mcparland, Lily Girme, Ben Mallon, Aideen O'Dochartaigh, Anthony Downes

Irish Journal of Academic Practice

Challenge-Based Learning (CBL) is an educational approach that involves students engaging with peers, academics, and external stakeholders to collaboratively investigate and develop solutions to real-world challenges of urgency and significance. One of the strengths of CBL is that it is a flexible framework that can be adapted to suit the educational discipline and local context. As CBL becomes applied in more disciplines, there are opportunities to learn from those implementing it which can stimulate new ways of approaching certain aspects. Staff members developing and disseminating guidance to support CBL at one Irish university therefore initiated a project to co-develop a …

Stepping Into Motherhood: Pregnancy-Induced Changes To Foot Structure And Biomechanics, Lauren R. Williams

Theses and Dissertations

INTRODUCTION: Pregnant women have an elevated risk of developing lower limb musculoskeletal disorders, likely due to the rapid increase in body mass and joint laxity. While a few studies have evaluated changes in static foot posture due to pregnancy, it is unclear if body mass or joint laxity is the primary driver. Additionally, how pregnancy affects the mechanics of the foot during dynamic movements is still not understood. PURPOSE: The purpose of this study is to investigate the foot's response to pregnancy. First, we examined foot tissue characteristics across pregnancy, specifically plantar fascia (PF) stiffness, length, and thickness. Additionally, we …

Yield And Pungency Of Eight Onion Varieties And Their Response To Sulfur Fertilizer On Fine-Textured Soil, Charlie Rohwer, Jesen Hosch, Brianna Hayward, Cindy Tong

Midwest Vegetable Trial Reports

Onions are notable for their pungency, caused by sulfur-containing compounds. Fine-textured soils high in organic matter, or soils fertilized with organic amendments, are unlikely to require additional sulfur for maximum onion yield. We were interested in the impacts of additional sulfur (in such a situation, unlikely to be sulfur-limited) on pungency, soluble solids, and yield in eight onion varieties. We carried out a study in 2024 in southern Minnesota, designed as a split-plot (onion variety as the whole-plot) with four replicates. Heavy rainfall caused substantial unmarketability in our trial, with ‘Ringmaster’ suffering the most loss (11% of planted ‘Ringmaster’ were …

Sustainability Projects Making Impact In Nh & Beyond, Sustainability Institute Blog

Sustainability Institute Blog

No abstract provided.

Transmodal Family Literacies: Familial Cariño Practices Sustaining Children's Bilingualism And Biliteracy Development Heather L. Reichmuth And Lucía Cárdenas Curiel, Heather Reichmuth

Faculty and Staff Scholarship

This chapter explores the transmodal family literacy practices of two bilingual families (Korean and Mexican) residing in the US. The chapter opens with a vignette on the role-playing support that the Korean mother started to help her son's English development. The literature review focuses on multimodal texts and family literacies, while the theoretical framework highlights translanguaging, transmodal, and biliteracy practices. Findings from this study suggest that through transmodality and familial care, the mothers supported their children's bilingual and biliteracy development in the home by using role-play, non-fiction books, and visual artistic expressions. This study suggests that teachers can draw on …

Unh Ocean Engineering Student Earns Prestigious Dod Smart Scholarship, Brooks Payette

UNH Today Archive

No abstract provided.

Institute For Health Policy And Practice Keeps New Hampshire Healthy, Beth Potier

UNH Today Archive

No abstract provided.

Robust Engineered Catalyst For The Conversion Of Brown Grease To Renewable Diesel Via Decarboxylation/Decarbonylation, Great C. Umenweke, Brian Hogston, Olivier Heintz, Gilles Caboche, Robert B. Pace, Eduardo Santillan-Jimenez

Chemistry Faculty Publications

A novel engineered Ni-Cu/Al₂O₃ decarboxylation/decarbonylation catalyst achieved quantitative conversion of brown grease, excellent yield of diesel-like hydrocarbons, effective heteroatom removal, and remarkable resistance to deactivation for hundreds of hours on stream. This offers an industrial alternative to hydrotreating for transforming waste oleaginous feedstocks into renewable diesel and sustainable aviation fuel.

Online Hyperparameter Tuning For Llm Optimization, Ethan Lin, Nathan Yu, Jeromy Chang

Computer Science and Engineering Senior Theses

Large Language Models (LLMs) are becoming increasingly popular in modern society. However, despite their popularity, the deployment of LLMs in real-world scenarios is extremely challenging due to substantial computational costs and memory constraints. Edge devices, like smartphones and IoT devices, lack resources needed to run these models locally, instead offloading computations for cloud computing. Cloud computing requires users to send their data over the internet leading to numerous privacy and security concerns. In some domains, such as health and finances, sending such sensitive information is not an option. Existing solutions to compress or increase inference speed include Small Language Models …

Risk And Protective Factors Associated With Teenage Pregnancy And Intergenerational Interventions: A Scoping Review Protocol, Zamasomi Luvuno, Wilbroda Hlolosile Chiya, Silingene Joyce Ngcobo, Deshini Naidoo, Serwaa Omowale, Tracy Zhandire, Elizabeth Musili Joseph-Shehu, Busisiwe Purity Ncama, Sinegugu E Duma

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Introduction: Teenage pregnancy remains a critical global health issue, particularly in low- and middle-income countries. The intergenerational transmission of teenage pregnancy underscores the need for targeted interventions. Existing research on intergenerational approaches is fragmented, with varying methodologies and outcomes. This scoping review seeks to address this gap by answering the following research questions: What are the available intergenerational interventions for teenage pregnancy, and what are the associated risks and protective factors for early and late teenage pregnancy?

Methods and analysis: This study does not involve primary data collection and therefore does not require ethical approval. The review will be conducted …

As Good As It Gets? Comparing Clients’ And Treatment Providers’ Perceptions Of Engagement Barriers And Facilitators For Exposure And Response Prevention Ocd Treatment, Samuel Mutschler-Aldine

University Honors Theses

This mixed-methods study compared clients' and providers' sentiments toward research-based themes on barriers and facilitators of client engagement in treatment. For individuals with Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD), engagement in Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP) therapy is a crucial ingredient of successful treatment and symptom remission. Therefore, it is imperative to thoroughly understand the perspectives on engagement barriers and facilitators of people with field experience: ERP patients and therapists.

The researcher administered two Qualtrics surveys to thirty current providers and six current or former clients of ERP for OCD. Each survey contained five-point, Likert-style scales to measure the level each participant agreed …

Efficacy Of New Jersey's Child Protection Policy Among Local Superior Courts, Nerissa G. Collins

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Despite the existence of New Jersey Department of Children and Family (NJDCF) policy guidelines, it remained unclear whether New Jersey superior courts consistently applied these principles and guidelines in Department of Child Protection and Permanency (CP&P) child abuse cases. Limited research had been conducted to examine how courts interpreted and adhered to these policies in legal rulings, leaving a gap in understanding how NJDCF principles influenced judicial decision-making. This gap in the literature made it difficult to assess whether policy guidelines effectively shaped court outcomes in ways that supported child protection and welfare. Child protective advocate attitudes and opinions concerning …

Bias In Media Portrayals Of Filicide Cases Involving African American Women, Channing Lelar Collins

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

This study was conducted to examine racial disparities in media portrayals of filicide cases involving African American and Caucasian women, exploring how systemic biases and societal narratives influenced public perception, policy, and the child welfare and legal systems. Using a qualitative content analysis of 42 cases involving African American women and 20 involving Caucasian women, framing techniques, language, and imagery were analyzed. The research addressed three questions were (a) What narratives and framing were used?, (b) How did these differ across racial lines?, and (c) What are the broader societal and systemic implications? Results showed that media coverage of African …

2025 June 12 - Tennessee Weekly Drought Summary, Tennessee Climate Office, East Tennessee State University

Tennessee Climate Office Weekly Drought Summaries

No abstract provided.

The De Mau Mau Conspiracy: The Specter Of Black Vietnam Veterans In The Exercise Of Police Power, 1968-1976, Ina Cox

Dissertations

A forgotten and bizarre event encapsulates the violent decay that characterized the pivotal years the United States endured in the wake of the Vietnam War. Black veterans—guerrilla combat-trained, politically awakened by war, and disillusioned with the entrenched racial order at home—emerged as totems in a fearful, cynical political culture wracked by violence. Men overrepresented in the projection of American power abroad now stood as symbols of its fragility within, potential vessels of retribution for centuries of domestic and global oppression. This anxiety, merging with widespread protests and political upheaval, intensified the belief that American cities stood on the brink of …

Into The Language Barrier: Analysis Of The Debates Of Charles Taylor And Jürgen Habermas With Concentration On The Importance Of Philosophy Of Language, Tom Crosby

Dissertations

Jürgen Habermas (b. 1929) and Charles Taylor (b. 1931) are two of the most important philosophers of the late 20th and early 21st centuries. Throughout their lengthy bodies of work, spanning from the 1960s and continuing today, they were frequent interlocutors, and often responded to one another’s theories and arguments. They also engaged in direct debates in edited volumes to which they both contributed, including Communicative Action: Essays on Jürgen Habermas's The Theory of Communicative Action (1991), Multiculturalism (1994), and The Power of Religion in the Public Square (2011). The goal of this dissertation is to catalogue and analyze Habermas …

Development Of Novel Force Fields For Metal Ions, Madelyn Smith

Dissertations

Many biological proteins require the presence of a metal ion in order to properly function. However, metal ions’ complex nature charge poses several challenges to accurately and efficiently simulate computationally. For example, metal ions can exhibit multiple oxidation states, electronic state degeneracy, flexible coordination numbers, and significant polarization effects. To address these problems, this dissertation aims to enhance force fields for modeling metal ions in molecular dynamics simulations. First, a comprehensive set of van der Waals radii for metal ions is derived, demonstrating the importance of using physically meaningful parameters in force fields. Second, a comprehensive set of atomic and …

Contributions Of California Teacher Librarians To Student Achievement, Keith Curry Lance, Caitlin Gerrity

Learning Hub

This article assesses the contributions of California Teacher Librarians (TLs) to student achievement, specifically in the area of English Language Arts and Literacy. This comparison-of-means analysis employed two major datasets: the California Department of Education (CDE) school library evaluation survey and California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress (CAASPP) data, both for the 2022-23 school year. This study found that students who met or exceeded ELA standards were more likely to be in schools with: a full-time, certified TL rather than a part-time TL or no TL; a TL–full- or part-time–rather than no TL; a TL staffing a single library …

The Impact Of Child And Parent Trauma Exposure On A School-Based Trauma-Focused Child Intervention, Andrea Donis

Master's Theses

National statistics demonstrate that vast majority of Latine youth living in low-income neighborhoods in the United States experience on-going trauma exposure throughout their life. However, most trauma-focused therapies were designed without considering the impact that experiencing new trauma exposure during treatment may have on treatment effectiveness, limiting our understanding of the potential attenuation caused by new traumatic experiences. In addition, most youth research has focused on the impact of child trauma exposure, with little attention given to the impact of parental trauma exposure on child treatment outcomes despite the salient role that parents play in child development. In particular, little …

Two Leading Female Figures Of The Anti-Colonial Struggle In Africa, Marie-Ange Anezi Djie

Master's Theses

The Eurocentric and male narrative of the anti-colonial struggle in Africa during the twentieth century marginalized women’s contributions and presented them as passive victims of colonialism. Therefore, this study offers a more comprehensive historical account of women's leadership in Africa and a more inclusive and liberated narrative of the anti-colonial movement. Achieving this goal involves delving into the roles and contributions of two prominent female figures in the anti-colonial resistance in Northern and Sub-Saharan Africa during the twentieth century: Huda Shaarawi from Egypt and Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti from Nigeria. Furthermore, this study aims to demonstrate that the actions and strategies of …