Digital Commons Network^™

Employee Engagement: Building A Green Workplace Culture, Anubhav Mishra, Saumya Awasthi

Management Dynamics

Making a good impact on the world in addition to being lucrative is becoming a major focus for many organisations. With companies realizing that they have a responsibility to address social and environmental challenges, employee engagement in developing a sustainable culture is essential. It begins by defining sustainability and outlining its significance for businesses. Through authentic instances from various businesses, it delves into how involving staff members may significantly influence the establishment of a sustainable and conscientious work environment. Important tactics, obstacles encountered, and quantifiable results are examined closely to glean insightful information. The study also looks into the advantages …

Using Ai Chatbots As Ideation Machines, Brett Hawley, Naomi Hollans

Student Works

The team analyzed 3 popular chatbots and found that none of them could consistently produce idea-centered essay help responses. The team approached them with 3 separate prompts, one from each of three academic subjects. The team analyzed how each chatbot adapted to the addition of personal information from the “student” and to the phrase, “what are some ideas that could help me get started?” The goal with each interaction was to receive a response in which the chatbot did not produce any pre-written content. Overall, the team’s research did not suggest that AI is fully reliable as an ideation tool.

Black Female Educator: Underappreciated, Overworked, And The Indelible Quest For Agency Within The Educational System, Sharena Stevenson

Dissertations

In this study, I examined my experiences in the educational system as a Black female who feels overworked and underappreciated, like I must constantly prove my credibility and fight stereotypes, and feel strain of trying to remain healthy, physically and mentally, while trying to find agency in the educational system. I recount the trauma I faced as a Black female student and then as a Black female educator. I documented my experiences from my time in K-12 and my years as an educator. I utilized the Critical Race Theory tenet, persistence of racism, Intersectionality, and Black feminist thought as the …

An Examination Of The Impediments To Implementing Student-Centered Teaching Methods In Public Schools, Nicole R H Adewale, Robert L. Bloch, Garry D. Gibbs

Dissertations

In education, traditional methods have long relied upon static textbooks and blackboards to impart knowledge to students. Unfortunately, the lack of dynamism with this approach has failed to foster creativity, motivation, inquiry, individualization, and other practices crucial to serving diverse learners, especially Black children. We sought to uncover barriers and potential solutions to this problem by elevating the voices of educators, from classroom teachers to building and district administrators, at a predominantly African-American suburban secondary school in the Midwest.

We designed a qualitative research study to answer a single yet layered research question: What impedes Black students from experiencing and …

Uni Introduction To High School Openscied Workshop [Flier] April 13, 2024, University Of Northern Iowa Science Education Program.

Science Education Update Conference Documents

The flier for the Introduction to High School OpenSciEd Workshop held on April 13, 2024 at the University of Northern Iowa.

Stroke-Related Mental Health Challenges And Interventions: Strategies For Holistic Recovery, Christopher Walsh, Sam Lee

MOT Student Capstones

This capstone project examines the relationship between post-stroke and mental health. It presents the necessity for a holistic and client-centered approach in the recovery process. Through a mixed-methods approach combining a literature review and empirical research, including surveys of stroke survivors, caregivers, and practitioners, the study shows the prevalence of depression and anxiety post-stroke and the potential benefit of comprehensive mental health support. The findings emphasize the importance of community, spirituality, and proactive education in enhancing mental well-being. The effectiveness of specific interventions for this population was found to be variable, which warrants the use of personalized assessments and intervention …

Assessment And Validation: An Updated Climate Change Plausibility Perception Measure, Melike Hanedar, Gizem Ozyazici, Gaye Defne Ceyhan

Earth & Environmental Sciences - All Scholarship

Plausibility perceptions about climate change influence learner engagement, motivation, and knowledge acquisition, thereby shaping the effectiveness of climate change education. The Plausibility Perception Measure (PPM) was originally developed following the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change in 2007. There was a need to update the scale to measure individuals' plausibility perceptions regarding the current climate crisis. This study updated the PPM scale to reflect the IPCC's 2022 report on impacts, adaptation, and vulnerability. The updated PPM scale is a ten-point Likert scale consisting of 15 items. Data were collected from 330 pre-service teachers at a public …

Evaluation Of Alginate Hydrogel Microstrands For Stromal Cell Encapsulation And Maintenance., Sujith Chander Reddy Kollampally, Xulang Zhang, Nicholas Moskwa, Deirdre A Nelson, Susan T Sharfstein, Melinda Larsen, Yubing Xie

Faculty Research 2024

Mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) have displayed potential in regenerating organ function due to their anti-fibrotic, anti-inflammatory, and regenerative properties. However, there is a need for delivery systems to enhance MSC retention while maintaining their anti-fibrotic characteristics. This study investigates the feasibility of using alginate hydrogel microstrands as a cell delivery vehicle to maintain MSC viability and phenotype. To accommodate cell implantation needs, we invented a Syringe-in-Syringe approach to reproducibly fabricate microstrands in small numbers with a diameter of around 200 µm and a porous structure, which would allow for transporting nutrients to cells by diffusion. Using murine NIH 3T3 fibroblasts …

Trajectories Of Digital Flourishing In Adolescence: The Predictive Roles Of The Developmental Changes And Digital Divide Factors, Jasmina Rosič, Lara Schreurs, Sophie H. Janicke-Bowles, Laura Vandenbosch

Communication Faculty Articles and Research

Digital flourishing refers to the positive perceptions of digital communication use in five dimensions: connectedness, positive social comparison, authentic self-presentation, civil participation, and self-control. This three-wave panel study among 1081 Slovenian adolescents (M_age = 15.34 years, 53.8% boys, 80.7% ethnic majority) explored the trajectories of their digital flourishing dimensions over 1 year (2021–2022). Latent class growth analysis identified two classes. Adolescents in the first class reported high levels of digital flourishing, which remained stable over time, whereas those in the second class reported low levels of digital flourishing with decreased self-control over time. Autonomy-supportive restrictive, autonomy-supportive active, and …

Mapping Out The Sky, Erik Johnson

Natural Science Faculty

Astronomers are often asked to help identify UFOs. It's a reasonable request since the term means "unidentified flying object." An untrained observer may not know which celestial objects are visible at night, even in light-polluted skies. They may mistake a plane for a planet, a bright star, or a satellite.

Fear Of Love And Loving In India, Sarasu Esther Thomas

Popular Media

Excerpt:

It is unthinkable that marriages and live-in relationships between adults should become so regimented by the State. This is a violation of constitutional and human rights to have adult agency appropriated by the state and non-state actors. This insidious creeping of the paternalistic State into romantic and intimate relationships of consenting adults does not show any signs of ebbing. It reflects increased polarisation and merges moral policing with the law.

Literature And The Planetary: Into The Firestorm, Virginia Ramos

Journal of Interdisciplinary Perspectives and Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Death, Sex, And Hope Through The Arts: Developing An Expressive Arts-Existential Therapy Method For The Treatment Of Compulsive Sexual Behavior Disorder, Michael Shirek

Expressive Therapies Capstone Theses

Compulsive sexual behavior disorder (CSBD) is a newly recognized disorder mired in a history of terminological and diagnostic controversy. Emerging research into the disorder has pointed to shame as an intrinsic motivator of the compulsive cycle, which provides potential for therapeutic intervention. Although most empirically-based treatments approach CSBD through a behavioral, abstinence-based model, an integrated expressive arts-existential therapy approach may provide opportunity for effective, person-centered treatment which mitigates the risk of reinforcing the shame cycle. For this capstone thesis, I developed and implemented a three-session treatment method which uses expressive arts therapy to investigate existential themes of guilt, non-being, isolation, …

Formerly Used Defense Sites On Unalaska Island, Alaska: Mapping A Legacy Of Environmental Pollution, Jennifer Schmidt

ISER Articles

Unalaska Island, Alaska, served as a US military base during World War II. The military installed bases on Unalaska and nearby islands, many of which were built adjacent to Unangan communities. The military used toxic compounds in its operations and left a legacy of pollution that may pose health risks to residents and local wildlife. The goals of this study were to identify hotspots of contamination remaining at Unalaska formerly used defense (FUD) sites, evaluate the risk posed by arsenic, and examine “no US Department of Defense action indicated” (NDAI) status determinations for FUD sites near communities. We compiled soil …

Spatial Distribution Of Wildfire Threat In The Far North: Exposure Assessment In Boreal Communities, Jennifer Schmidt

ISER Articles

Increased wildfire activity has raised concerns among communities about how to assess and prepare for this threat. There is a need for wildfire hazard assessment approaches that capture local variability to inform decisions, produce results understood by the public, and are updatable in a timely manner. We modified an existing approach to assess decadal wildfire hazards based primarily on ember dispersal and wildfire proximity, referencing landscape changes from 1984 through 2014. Our modifications created a categorical flammability hazard scheme, rather than dichotomous, and integrated wildfire exposure results across spatial scales. We used remote sensed land cover from four historical decadal …

Increasing Multi-Hazard Climate Risk And Financial And Health Impacts On Northern Homeowners, Jennifer Schmidt

ISER Articles

Currently, more than half of the world’s human population lives in urban areas, which are increasingly affected by climate hazards. Little is known about how multi-hazard environments affect people, especially those living in urban areas in northern latitudes. This study surveyed homeowners in Anchorage and Fairbanks, USA, Alaska’s largest urban centers, to measure individual risk perceptions, mitigation response, and damages related to wildfire, surface ice hazards, and permafrost thaw. Up to one third of residents reported being affected by all three hazards, with surface ice hazards being the most widely distributed, related to an estimated $25 million in annual damages. …

Mapping The Wildfire Threat To Boreal Communities, R. Ziel, Jennifer Schmidt

ISER Articles

Considerable interest and effort in identifying significant wildfire risk is drawn from the catastrophic impact of increasingly large and destructive wildfires on people, their health and safety, and the values and developments that support them. Improved methods include updated efforts to represent hazard and exposure across landscapes and within communities. The tools and techniques applied and evaluated here are collectively called Wildfire Exposure Assessment, a process developed and published by Jennifer L. Beverly (University of Alberta) and others. The simplicity and speed of the Exposure Assessment method make it an important prospect for communities planning for the protection of their …

But I Couldn’T Keep It To Myself: James H. Cone’S Articulation Of Resistive Prophetic Rhetoric, Diarron B. Morrison

Electronic Theses and Dissertations Archive

James H. Cone is widely considered to be a forefather of Black Liberation Theology. Over the course of almost 50 years, he established himself as one of the world's most important theologians and a prophetic voice against anti-blackness and other forms of oppression in America. While his theology and career have received much well-deserved attention from religious historians and theologians, very few projects have engaged Cone rhetorically. This dissertation will examine Cone’s first four books: "Black Theology and Black Power", "A Black Theology of Liberation", "The Spirituals and the Blues", and "God of the Oppressed." Using his final and unfinished …

Treatment Credibility, Outcome Expectations, The Therapeutic Alliance, And Therapist Empathy: Construct Explication Via Model Testing, Andrew Snell

Electronic Theses and Dissertations Archive

The construct validation process helps clarify the associations among observable indicators and unobservable phenomena—called constructs. Sometimes, factor-analytic data reveal that indicators of supposedly separate constructs are instead manifestations of the same construct. Previous research has shown moderate-to-strong correlations among indicators of several constructs believed to account for differences in psychotherapy outcome (viz., treatment credibility, outcome expectations, the therapeutic alliance, and therapist empathy). One possibility is that research participants who evaluate the psychotherapeutic process do not distinguish these concepts and, instead, provide evaluations based on general sentiments. The present study used a confirmatory-factor-analytic design and data from five psychotherapy process studies …

Relationship Of Bedrock’S Structural Dip And Rock Hardness To The Transverse Basin Asymmetry; Studies From The Cumberland Plateau, Tennessee, And The Ouachita Mountains And The Arkoma Basin Area, Arkansas, Narayan Adhikari

Electronic Theses and Dissertations Archive

The first part of this study investigates the relationship between the degree of basin asymmetry and the dip amount and hardness of resistant rock in drainage basins located in gently dipping strata of the Cumberland Plateau region, Eastern Tennessee, USA. I examined basins in which the preferred direction of river migration is oriented near parallel to slightly oblique to dip direction of the underlying bedrock. This study suggests that in basins without horizontal bedrock, when bedrock dip increases in drainage basins having resistant rocks that are gentle to moderately dipping, asymmetry of the drainage basins decreases. The Relative River Deviation …

Examining The Relationship Of Cultural Sensitivity, Self-Esteem, And Cultural Identities, Jeanneka Black

Electronic Theses and Dissertations Archive

This study examines qualities of self-esteem and its relationship to the process of self-reflection and sensitivity development. The intercultural sensitivity development model highlights the exploration of cognitive and affective processes as the catalyst for promoting willingness, adaptability, and ongoing curiosity to account for the limitations of present approach to multicultural training. Self-reflection is required to process thoughts and emotions, but self-esteem may serve as the barrier or facilitator of this effort. A moderately positive relationship was found among the total score for intercultural sensitivity and self-esteem. Relationships among the demographic variables of race/ethnicity, sexual orientation, religious/spirituality, age ranges, educational level, …

Command Of The Winds: An Examination Of Earth Mother And Great Serpent Iconography, Melinda Alaine Martin

Electronic Theses and Dissertations Archive

Mississippian cosmoscapes provide a perceived, yet concealed, existence of spiritual realms inhabited by other-than and more-than human-beings who interact, influence, and interfere with the tangible landscape through natural and material contexts. To conceptualize the world around them, Mississippian ritual practitioners focused on a tripartite cosmological organization: an Above World, Middle World, and Beneath World realms. Within each of these “worlds”, multiple other-than and more-than-human-beings possessed powers, which allowed them to influence the Middle World of humans and their lived experiences. A duality exists between Earth Mother (Above World), who commands vortexes or tornadoes, and the Great Serpent (Beneath World), who …

Structure Of A Sequence With Prescribed Zero-Sum Subsequences In Rank Two Abelian Groups, John Ebert

Electronic Theses and Dissertations Archive

Let $G=(\mathbb Z/m\mathbb Z) \oplus (\mathbb Z/n\mathbb Z)$ where $1

Chitosan As A Biomedical Material For Additively Manufactured Musculoskeletal Regeneration, Andrew Blass Watson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations Archive

High-energy combat-related extremity injuries to both bone and soft tissue from improvised explosive devices are one of the signature injury patterns suffered by US Servicemen during modern the military engagements. Even with bone healing and adequate management of infection, a significant number of battlefield-injured military personnel have returned from combat with persistent functional deficits. Tissue engineering holds immense promise for regenerative medicine by providing innovative solutions for repairing and replacing damaged tissues. In this study, we present two significant advancements in tissue engineering: the development of a novel bio-ink for muscle tissue constructs and the investigation of drug-loaded membranes for …

S.M.A.R.T.E.R. Self-Care For Counselors, Nicole Marie Arcuri-Sanders, Jenny Kim

Educational Sciences and Organizations

Practicing self-care activities is essential to helping professions stave off and combat burnout and vicarious trauma. Mental health counselors and counselor educators and supervisors (CESs) need specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and timely (S. M. A. R. T.) self-care activities to best meet the demands of this highly relational field. This article will assist CESs in supporting the personal development of S. M. A. R. T. self-care goals for their students and supervisees’ evolving professional identity with the addition to evaluate (E) and review (R) identified self-care efforts. CESs are supported with gatekeeping relevance and examining student and supervisee self-care plans …

Discovery Of Strong 3-Nitro-2-Phenyl-2h-Chromene Analogues As Antitrypanosomal Agents And Inhibitors Of Trypanosoma Cruzi Glucokinase, Shane M. Carey, Destiny M. O’Neill, Garrett B. Conner, Julian Sherman, Ana Rodriguez, Edward L. D'Antonio

Natural Sciences Faculty Publications

Chagas disease is one of the world’s neglected tropical diseases, caused by the human pathogenic protozoan parasite Trypanosoma cruzi. There is currently a lack of effective and tolerable clinically available therapeutics to treat this life-threatening illness and the discovery of modern alternative options is an urgent matter. T. cruzi glucokinase (TcGlcK) is a potential drug target because its product, D-glucose-6-phosphate, serves as a key metabolite in the pentose phosphate pathway, glycolysis, and gluconeogenesis. In 2019, we identified a novel cluster of TcGlcK inhibitors that also exhibited anti-T. cruzi efficacy called the 3-nitro-2-phenyl-2H-chromene analogues. This was achieved by performing a target-based …

Driving In Cars With Noise: Reflections On An Audio Research Methodology, Randall W. Monty

Writing and Language Studies Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Oceanographic Growth Of Seaweed Data, Morphometric Data, And Data From A Spotter Buoy, Michael Stekoll

Faculty, Staff, and Students

On publication, data files will be available through ScholarWorks@UA (https://scholarworks.alaska.edu/handle/11122/15071), an open data repository. The datasets generated during the current study are also available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

Giving Day 2024 Breaks Records At Ole Miss, Tina H. Hahn

University of Mississippi News

OXFORD, Miss – When the last online donation came in Wednesday (April 10) for Giving Day 2024, the University of Mississippi's donors had joined together to set an unprecedented fundraising record of more than $11.5 million.

Woosh Jín Toolshát Yeisú, WeʼRe Still Holding Each OtherʼS Hands : Relationships And Revitalization In Lingít Country, Éedaa Heather Burge

Faculty, Staff, and Students

This dissertation examines the relationships the Lingít language revitalization movement has to concepts of gender, identity, organizations and academia. The Lingít language and the Lingít people reside within Southeast Alaska in the United States, as well as northern British Columbia and the southern Yukon territory in Canada. Relying on my own lived experience as a Lingít learner and educator, as well as interviews and conversations with Lingít community members, we discuss how relationality supports the larger goal of Lingít language and cultural revitalization. Specifically we talk about the role of women within the language movement, and what approaches can best …