Digital Commons Network^™

Characteristics Of Stream Source Water Contributions And Associated Geochemical Signatures Along A Climate And Vegetation Gradient In A Glacierized Landscape, Southcentral Alaska, Hannah K. Richardson

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

Mountain-derived snow and ice melt are essential for global water resources, and over one-sixth of the population depends on melt for freshwater. Rising air temperatures are causing vegetation to replace snow- and ice-covered landscapes and precipitation regimes to change. Collectively, these changes will alter the hydrology of mountain environments, although the exact impacts to hydrologic regimes are poorly understood. The source waters of streamflow (i.e. the proportion of ice melt, snowmelt, rain, and groundwater) dictate the timing and magnitude and affect temperature, sediment, and nutrient fluxes. By examining differences in source waters across basins with varying land covers and precipitation …

Using Terrestrial Laser Scanning To Estimate Canopy Structure In Peatland Conifers Under A Climate Manipulation, Angela D. Seibert

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

Northern peatlands are major terrestrial carbon sinks, storing 415 ± 150 Gt of carbon. The composition of peatland vegetation affects this carbon storage capacity, and thus quantifying the vegetation helps to constrain uncertainty in peatland carbon storage estimates. Ground layer vegetation, such as Sphagnum sp. moss contributes greatly to carbon storage capacity. In forested peatlands, the tree canopy structure directly influences peatland solar insolation, soil temperature, and water table levels. Each of these factors impacts the ground layer vegetation. Currently, there is uncertainty about how the peatland tree canopy structure is influenced by elevated levels of carbon dioxide (CO_{2 …}

A New Reality In Teaching Chemistry: Developing A Virtual Reality Intervention To Improve Student Understanding Of Concepts Of Chemical Equilibrium, Jason Ward

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

The subject of chemistry is a cornerstone of high school science programs and a conceptual understanding of chemical equilibria and Le Chatelier’s Principle continues to be both a fundamental and paradoxically difficult subject for educators and students. This study evaluated the effectiveness of a prototype immersive virtual reality environment. The prototype was designed and built to high school support students’ understanding of the concepts of chemical equilibria and Le Chatelier’s Principle. Data was collected to assess student understanding of the concepts being taught, as well as to evaluate the user experience with the prototype learning environment. Results of data analysis …

Probing The Mechanism Of Dna Protein Crosslink Formation By Aziridinomitosenes Through The Selective Precipitation Of Protein Salts, Michael Blair

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

Aziridinomitosenes are synthetic chemotherapeutic agents that are analogs of Mitomycin C, as well as other mitomycins. They are known for their ability to form DNA interstrand cross-links (ICLs), and more recently have been observed to form DNA-protein cross-links (DPCs). In this work, three synthetic aziridinomitsenes were prepared and studied to better understand the role of the C6 and C7 positions in the formation of DNA-protein cross-links. In addition, two separate methods, the advanced recovery of K-SDS precipitates and the K-SDS assays were utilized and compared to assess the advancements in the analysis of DPC formation. H AZM, C6 AZM, Dimethyl …

An Adaptive Deep Learning For Causal Inference Based On Support Points With High-Dimensional Data, Lynda Aouar

Dissertations

The Sample splitting method in semiparametric statistics could introduce inconsistency in inference and estimation. Thus, to make adaptive learning based on observational data and establish valid learning that helps in the estimation and inference of the parameters and hyperparameters using double machine learning, this study introduces an efficient sample splitting technique for causal inference in the semiparametric framework, in other words, the support points sample splitting( SPSS), a subsampling method based on the energy distance concept is employed for causal inference under double machine learning paradigm. This work is based on the idea that the support points sample splitting (SPSS) …

A Qualitative Case Study Into The Electronic Correspondence Between Fifth-Grade Students And Their College Mentors, Kevin Pribnow

Dissertations

The ability to navigate emerging technologies is necessary for social and economic participation in the world. Research shows that children from privileged households receive the support needed to develop digital literacy skills, while children from families with lower socioeconomic status do not receive this support. It is the responsibility of schools to address this participation gap by bringing digital literacies into classrooms. The affordances of new technologies make it easier than ever for teachers to provide authentic literacy experiences for their students. This qualitative case study examined an authentic, digital literacy experience during a virtual pen pal correspondence between fifth-grade …

Ridge Propagation And The Stability Of Small Mid-Ocean Ridge Offsets, Hugh Harper, Karen Luttrell, David T. Sandwell

Faculty Publications

The mid-ocean ridge system comprises a series of spreading ridges, transform faults, propagating ridges, and other non-transform offsets. Transform faults remain stable for millions of years leaving long linear scars, or fracture zones, on older seafloor. Propagating ridges migrate in the ridge parallel direction leaving V-shaped or W-shaped scars on older seafloor. Vertical gravity gradient maps can now resolve the details of the ridge segmentation. For slow- and intermediate-spreading ridges, there appears to be an offset length threshold above which adjacent ridges do not propagate so remain as stable transform faults. We propose this threshold is due to the yield …

South Central Regional Cog 2023 Equity Profile, Camille Seaberry, Kelly Davila, Mark Abraham, Datahaven Connecticut Data Hub

Reports

Throughout most of the measures in this report, there are important differences by race/ethnicity and neighborhood that reflect differences in access to resources and other social needs. Wherever possible, data are presented with racial/ethnic breakdowns, as defined by existing federal data collection standards. However, for smaller groups or more detailed breakdowns, some values may not be available or have less reliable data. In these cases, values are marked as “N/A,” not available. Federal and statewide approaches to data collection, including small sample sizes, tend to hide disparities within certain population groups. This does not mean that a given population is …

Rhob Is A Key Regulator Of Neuronal Cell Death In The Stressed Retina, E-Jine Tsai

PCOM Biomedical Studies Student Scholarship

The retina is located in the posterior aspect of the eye and is home to neurons that send electrical signals to the brain to process vision. Like all other brain areas, it undergoes a period of culling excess neurons deemed the critical period. Previous studies on the critical period have shown that supplemental oxygen decreased photoreceptor death in the retina during the critical period while hypoxic conditions increased photoreceptor death. RhoB is a small GTPase, part of the Rho GTPase family, and has been studied in the context of cancer, diabetes, and retinopathy of prematurity in regard to apoptosis, intracellular …

Exploring The Influence Of Postnatal Depression On Neonatal Care Practices Among Mothers In Western Kenya: A Qualitative Study, Florence Achieng, Alloys K’Oloo, Hellen Barsosio, Simon Kariuki, Helen Nabwera

Obstetrics and Gynaecology, East Africa

Background: Postnatal depression (PND) is associated with adverse infant neurodevelopmental outcomes. Evidence is limited on how PND influences neonatal (<28 days old) outcomes in low- and middle-income countries, such as Kenya, which bear the global burden of neonatal morbidity and mortality.

Objectives: To explore how PND influences neonatal feeding and care practices among women in the early postnatal period in rural Western Kenya.

Design: A cross-sectional study.

Methods: Semi-structured interviews were conducted at 2-weeks postpartum among mothers of newborn infants identified <72 h old from the postnatal wards and clinics across five health facilities in Kisumu County of Western Kenya. They were all screened for features suggestive of postnatal depression using the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale.

Results: Twenty-four mothers were interviewed, 13 of whom had features suggestive of PND. All mothers experienced health or socio-economic adversities in the perinatal period, including traumatic deliveries, financial constraints, and challenging relationships with partners/other family members. Feeding difficulties due to …

Mckillop Library Newsbrief Sep 2023

McKillop Library Newsbrief

No abstract provided.

Age-Related Differences In Kinematics, Kinetics, And Muscle Synergy Patterns Following A Sudden Gait Perturbation: Changes In Movement Strategies And Implications For Fall Prevention Rehabilitation, Woohyoung Jeon, Ahmed Ramadan, Jill Whitall, Nesreen Alissa, Kelly Westlake

Health & Kinesiology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Falls in older adults are leading causes of fatal and non-fatal injuries, negatively impacting quality of life among those in this demographic. Most elderly falls occur due to unrecoverable limb collapse during balance control in the single-limb support (SLS) phase. To understand why older adults are more susceptible to falls than younger adults, we investigated age-related differences in lower limb kinematics, kinetics, and muscle synergy patterns during SLS, as well as their relationship to postural control strategies. Thirteen older and thirteen younger healthy adults were compared during the SLS phase of balance recovery following an unexpected surface drop perturbation. Compared …

Working Against Racism Through Cross Institutional Communities Of Practice, Aaliyah Baker, Marisol Morales, Sharyn Lowenstein, John Reiff

Books and Book Chapters by University of Dayton Faculty

This chapter explores the evolution of three Campus Compact anti-racism communities of practice (COPs) to foster critical conversations about race and racism in our higher education community-engaged work. The COPs were created and cofacilitated by two BIPOC (African American and Afro-Puerto Rican) and two white (New York Jewish, German/English, Irish) people. Aaliyah, Marisol, Sharyn, and John served as facilitators of the first two COPs, with Nuala Boyle replacing Sharyn for the third. We invited faculty and staff in higher education institutions across the country to apply to participate. A large number of higher education professionals responded to the call, demonstrating …

Multiple Uncertain Robot Manipulator Control For A Modular System, Thitiphun Vongkunghae

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

Modular systems have gained significant attention in various domains due to their flexibility, scalability, and adaptability. These systems consist of multiple interconnected modules that can be combined and reconfigured to achieve desired functionalities. The modular approach offers numerous advantages, including ease of maintenance, reduced downtime, and cost-effectiveness. However, designing effective distributed control strategies for modular systems presents unique challenges. Specifically, modular systems that consist of robot manipulators are subject to non-linear unknown terms as well as unknown effects. This thesis focuses on developing and designing a distributed model reference adaptive controller for a robotic modular system that is subject to …

Increasing Repeat Lactate Collection For Sepsis Bundle Management Of Care, Rahwa Teklehaimanot

Master's Projects and Capstones

Abstract

Problem: In 2020, sepsis was the leading cause of mortality in this Northern California Hospital Organization. This QI project aimed to reduce the number of fallouts for collecting repeat lactate levels to less than two per month, from a baseline of five per month, within three months.

Context: This Northern California Emergency Department serves a broad range of patients, from pediatrics to geriatric patients, with an average daily census of 80-90 patients. In this 20-bed Emergency Department, approximately 650 patients were diagnosed with sepsis in 2022.

Intervention: The hospital sepsis committee collaboratively developed a new standardized workflow for sepsis …

Group B Streptococcus: A New Perspective, Susan Harris

MSN Capstone Projects

Group B streptococcus (GBS) is a major cause of illness and death in young infants across the nation. Current guidelines suggest pregnant women should be screened from thirty-five-to- thirty-seven-weeks gestation. Although screening may be negative at that time, the expectant mother could become colonized with GBS before delivery. GBS is a pathogen that lives in the gastrointestinal and genitourinary tract of fifteen to twenty percent of women of childbearing age (Moorhead et al., 2019). GBS does not become a problem until it is passed from colonized mothers to the neonate during delivery (Virranniemi et al., 2019). When GBS is passed …

Alarm Fatigue Prevention Benchmark Project, Lauren James

MSN Capstone Projects

Healthcare technology is constantly evolving to find ways to help provide better outcomes for patients. Clinical monitoring is technology that helps healthcare staff recognize deterioration of the patient which allows them to intervene earlier, which increases the patient’s chance for survival. The monitors are connected to the patients to monitor vital signs such as heart rate, oxygen saturation, respirations, and blood pressures. They allow staff to get real time feedback of the patient’s condition and determine if the patient is getting better or any interventions need to be done due to clinical deterioration.

However, all technology has setbacks and downfalls. …

Decision Making Under Uncertainty – Percieved House Edge Or Game Outcome, Haocheng Zhou

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Past studies have suggested that decision-making strategies are crucial for players in casino gambling, yet few studies have explored players' preferences for slot machines. This study focused on the impact of jackpot payouts, the perceived house edge, and psychological factors on the decision-making of slot machine players. With regard to Prospect theory, Outcome Prominence Effect, and Construal Level Theory, this study utilized convenience sampling and scenario-based surveys to collect data. A total of 416 experienced slot players participated in the survey. The survey results were examined using Chi-square analysis, Bonferroni correction, and the Wilcoxon Signed-Rank Test. The results showed that …

Origin Of The Mega-Streamlined Morphology In Ne Africa And Arabia: Remote Sensing And Field-Based Investigations, Mohamed Samy Mohamed Elhebery

Dissertations

Mega-streamlined landforms on Earth and Mars have been attributed to aeolian, glaciogenic, fluvial, and tectonic processes. Identifying the forces that shaped these landforms is paramount for understanding landscape evolution and constraining paleo-climate models and ice sheet reconstructions. Exhumed Late Ordovician glacial deposits and landscape of the North Gondwana are reported here for the first time from SE Egypt. Using field and remote sensing (Advanced Land Observing Satellite [ALOS], Phased Array L-band Synthetic Aperture Radar (PALSAR) radar, multispectral Landsat TM datasets, and digital elevation models (DEMs) I mapped the distribution of the Late Ordovician glacial features (i.e. deposits and landforms) in …

Examining Attitudes Toward And Utilization Of Mental Health App(Lication)S For Mental Health Service Delivery Among Black, Indigenous, And People Of Color (Bipoc), Kalani A. Gates

Dissertations

The prevalence of mental health conditions among Americans has increased since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. COVID-19 has been found to disproportionately affect communities of color and has contributed to elevated rates of mortality, morbidity, and mental illness. Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) are less likely to utilize or have access to conventional mental health services due to several access-related barriers including inadequate resources, cultural factors, lack of awareness and knowledge about mental health, mistrust of the health and mental health field and providers, and provider biases. Mental health applications (MHAs; software apps that delivery mental health …

Cancer-Related Cognitive Impairment: Examining The Perspectives Of Survivors And Speech-Language Pathologists, Patricia Lynn Geels

Dissertations

Scientific advancements have led to significant improvements in cancer treatment and increased survival rates. However, cancer survivors often experience long-term effects, including cognitive impairments known as cancer-related cognitive impairment (CRCI). CRCI is a common and distressing side effect that affects affected individuals’ quality of life. The discipline of speech-language pathology (SLP) is well-positioned to assess and treat CRCI. Still, there is a gap in determining the most effective support for cancer survivors with CRCI. This mixed methods, three-paper dissertation implements exploratory, cross-sectional survey design to examine how speech-language pathologists and survivors view CRCI symptoms, its impact on daily functioning, and …

Visual Circuitry In Adaptive Behavior: Extraction Of Complex Visual Image Information By Arrays Of Non-Image Forming Eyes, Thomas Kipp Halladay Groves

Dissertations

A complete understanding of how neural circuitry underlies the detection and integration of visual cues continues to elude researchers in the 21st century. Since the dawn of life on earth, light has exerted enormous selective pressure on all living organisms. Visual systems represent one of the most common sensory systems in existence, with significant homologies among elements of these systems, such as photopigments and developmental genes. Offering nearly unmatched single cell access at all levels of its nervous system, the European medicinal leech (Hirudo spp.) is an excellent system in which to identify behaviorally relevant neuronal circuits. Hirudo evolved discrete …

Association Of Lockdown Policies With Covid-19 Early Case Growth Rates In The United States, Anna Barefield

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted essentially the entire globe, infecting over 755 million people worldwide and resulting in over 6.8 million deaths to date. Different countries have had varying levels of success in managing the spread of the pandemic, and the success or lack thereof could be explained by the impact of government intervention, such as lockdown policies, mask mandates, and social distancing advisories. The United States responded particularly poorly to the early pandemic outbreak as compared to other similar countries, due to its lack of coordinated planning to implement effective policies, with large variations in action taken by each …

Conflict: An Autoethnography On Anthropology And Conflict Management, Rachel Koch

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

Anthropology has many goals, such as understanding our evolutionary origins, distinctiveness as a species, and vast diversity of social existence worldwide and through time. The current study looks at the feasibility of combining the theoretical and applied methods of anthropology and conflict resolution to help future anthropologists do better anthropology. I created an interdisciplinary mixed methods study to gauge the compatibility and possibility of integration. Recruiting participants from a conflict management course on having difficult conversations, pre- and post-discussion surveys were given to measure how well narrative inquiry can help those on differing sides of a difficult conversation understand one …

Poly(Alkyl Aldehyde)S: A New Class Of Closed-Loop Recyclable Plastics, Kyle Arnold Nogales

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation will describe a new class of closed-loop recyclable, self-immolative polymers that undergo selective, complete, and rapid depolymerization in the solid state when triggered. Self-immolative poly(alkyl aldehyde)s are synthesized efficiently in approximately 60% yield using anionic polymerization, which provides access to polymers in accessible lengths ranging from short (M_n value of 2 kDa) to long polymers (M_n value of 5,000 kDa). The physical and thermal properties of the polymers can be tuned rationally by appropriate choice of the aldehyde monomer, with some of the polymers displaying mechanical properties that are similar to traditional plastics. The polymers depolymerize …

Analysis Of Emerging Constituents In An Activated Sludge Treatment Facility, Abigail Mae Sigurdson Ryan

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

Emerging constituents (ECs), or contaminants of emerging concern (CECs), are pharmaceuticals and personal care products (Contaminants of Emerging Concern including Pharmaceuticals and Personal Care Products | US EPA, 2023). The primary source of ECs in surface waters is the discharge from wastewater treatment facilities (WWTF) (Kumar et al., 2022). Little is known about the effects treatment processes have on ECs. Research regarding ECs has increased due to the threats they pose to the environment and human health (Khan et al., 2021). This research aimed to expand understanding ECs’ fate through an activated sludge WWTF. This was accomplished by studying concentrations …

Robust Control Of Contact-Rich Robots Via Neural Bayesian Inference, Nardos Ayele Ashenafi

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

We provide several data-driven control design frameworks for contact-rich robotic systems. These systems exhibit continuous state flows and discrete state transitions, which are governed by distinct equations of motion. Hence, it is difficult to design a single policy that can control the system in all modes. Typically, hybrid systems are controlled by multi-modal policies, each manually triggered based on observed states. However, as the number of potential contacts increase, the number of policies can grow exponentially and the control-switching scheme becomes too complicated to parameterize. To address this issue, we design contact-aware data-driven controllers given by deep-net mixture of experts. …

Hydraulic Conductivity's Impact On Rise Of Excess Pore-Water Pressure During Seismic-Induced Liquefaction, Holly Gunderson

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

Liquefaction is a geohazard causing loss of lives and infrastructure around the world. During earthquakes the shaking of the ground may cause a loss of soil strength that results in the settlement of buildings, landslides, failure of earth dams, amongst other hazards (Liquefaction of Soils During Earthquakes, 1985). Liquefaction is the result of a sudden increase in the pore-water pressure (PWP)— referred to as excess pore-water pressure (EPWP)— in loose, saturated, noncohesive, fine soils during seismic shaking. Due to the small pores and low hydraulic conductivity of these soils, the shaking-induced EPWP has less time to dissipate, leading to the …

Photophysical Studies Of Electronic Structure And Excited-State Dynamics Of Dna-Templated Cyanine Dye Aggregates, Jonathan Samuel Huff

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

The invention and widespread adoption of the digital computer in the last century has led to an era of rapid technological advancement that has continued to the present day. This advancement has been sustained to a large degree by continued miniaturization of the electronic components in microprocessors, which results in increased computing power and energy efficiency. In recent years, this strategy has produced diminishing returns because the cost for each incremental size reduction increases as engineers approach the fundamental scaling limits of silicon-based semiconductor devices. Meanwhile, breakthroughs in DNA nanotechnology hold great promise for a new generation of self-assembled nanodevices …

Investigating The Causes Of A Landslide In Terra Nativa Subdivision And Designing Slope Stabilization Using Recycled Plastic Pins, Clara Klamm

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

In early 2016, five homes along Alto Via Court in the Terra Nativa Subdivision of the Boise Foothills began to move. By May of 2016, the street was closed due to safety concerns, and a few years later, the homes were demolished. Despite the heartbreak and legal action that followed the event, a definitive cause of the landslide was never identified. To date, the site remains vacant. This research aims to investigate the potential causes of the slide to help identify the contributing factors that resulted in the mishap. In addition, the research seeks to design a way to stabilize …