Digital Commons Network^™

Book Review: Gwinnett County, Georgia, And The Transformation Of The American South, 1818-2018, William Brogdon

Georgia Library Quarterly

No abstract provided.

Interview With Terry Blum (2023), Terry Blum, Andrea Mcdonald

Monterey County Theatre Alliance

No abstract provided.

2023-2024 Graduate Catalog, The University Of Alabama In Huntsville

Course Catalogs

No abstract provided.

Data Management Report August 2023, Tennessee. Department Of Intellectual And Developmental Disabilities

Compliance & System Data/Reports

This monthly report provides data on various aspects of the department's activities and programs.

Hibbs Institute Health Index: Examining Health Conditions In The Region (Updated 2023), Manuel Reyes-Loya

Whitepapers and Technical Reports

The Hibbs Institute for Business and Economic Research, a unit of the Soules College of Business at the University of Texas at Tyler, has developed the Hibbs Institute Health Index (HIHI). The HIHI is a tool that allows comparisons among regions, such as cities, counties, or Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs) via the examination of local health conditions and their health status performance.

August 1, 2023 Ereporter, University Of Alabama At Birmingham

eReporter (campus newsletter)

No abstract provided.

Cct Professional Development Bulletin August 2023, Marie O Neill

Teaching and Learning Bulletins

No abstract provided.

2023-August-01-Flo Rida To Headline Etsu Fall Music Festival, University Marketing And Communication, East Tennessee State University

ETSU News

Aug. 1, 2023 – Rapper and electronic pop songwriter Flo Rida, indie-pop duo DOUBLECAMP and rising country singer-songwriter Graham Barham will headline the Student Government Association Fall Music Festival at East Tennessee State University.  

The music festival, embracing three different genres, is set to begin at 7 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 29, at Freedom Hall Civic Center in Johnson City.  

Flo Rida, this year’s headliner, has dominated the hip-hop and pop charts for over a decade. The artist has sold over 100 million records, including Diamond selling record “Low.”  

Since releasing their debut track “Feel Like Me” in 2019, DOUBLECAMP …

Evolution Of Women’S Consciousness: Toward Integral Consciousness, Katherine T. Ziemke

Journal of Conscious Evolution

This article presents research materials which demonstrate historical consciousness for women of ancient European descent, the cultural heritage of the author. Awareness is examined from various historical angles in a transdisciplinary approach to the work. I explore the possibility that women’s historical and continued oppression may be a sign of the disintegration of the mental and a re-emergence of the integral structure of consciousness. A broad examination of women’s historical roles and corresponding thought shows how ancient consciousness may be used to accelerate a path toward integral consciousness today. Finally, this essay proposes that women’s historical consciousness and primordial memories …

Contributions To Robust Statistical Learning And Its Applications In Biological Spectral Imaging, Ruogu Wang

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

This thesis investigates robust statistical learning and its applications in biological spectral imaging. The first part of this thesis addresses the challenges raised in the statistical learning of robust expectile regression. Expectiles can be obtained through empirical risk minimization (\acrshort{erm}), which minimizes the sum of asymmetrically weighted squared deviations. However, this \acrshort{erm} scheme lacks robustness to abnormal observations and flexibility. To overcome these limitations, we adopt the empirical gain maximization (\acrshort{egm}) scheme that learns expectiles using an asymmetric Gaussian \acrshort{egm} approach. The corresponding \acrshort{erm} can be formulated with a robust expectile loss, which is bounded and nonconvex. Through a learning …

An Analysis Of The Predictability Of The February 2021 Cold Air Outbreak At S2s Timescales, Grace Dines

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

The February 2021 cold air outbreak (CAO) brought long-lasting, freezing temperatures and extreme winter weather to the United States and Canada. The event resulted in major societal and economic impacts, including millions of power outages, hundreds of fatalities, and approximately $25 billion in losses. This thesis first analyzes the synoptic evolution of this CAO in order to explain how Arctic air arrived and stalled over central North America. Given the synoptic context, the analysis next considers the subseasonal-to-seasonal (S2S) predictability of this CAO by examining S2S ensemble model predictions from both high-top and low-top models. The S2S predictability analysis is …

Social, Emotional, And Behavioral Functioning Among 5th Grade Students: An Evaluation Of A Pilot Screening Assessment Protocol, Samuel Sutton

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Social, emotional, and behavioral (SEB) functioning within schools has historically been considered in the context of educational impact. Currently, traditional models in education do not readily take into account changing ecological considerations for students, as they experience heightened population-wide academic and SEB concerns, increasing inequity for certain groups, and unique temporal factors like COVID-19. As a response, state and national initiatives are pushing toward earlier identification and prevention to better capture emerging ecological impacts. Prevention models utilize a Public Health Model (PHM) in schools like Multi-Tiered Systems of Support (MTSS) in promoting regular forms of assessment and linkages to leveled …

A Postmortem Analysis Of Covid-19 Ensemble Forecasts: Forward Or Sticky Information?, Jinman Pang

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

This study conducts a postmortem analysis to evaluate the overall forecasting performance of a large number of pandemic transmission models for COVID-19 mortality. For a comprehensive accuracy analysis, we selected thirty-nine prolific forecasting models, which reported continuously national-level weekly incident death forecasts at least fifty times at four weekly horizons between June 8, 2020, and May 28, 2022. We found that the forecasting performance of individual models varies over target weeks and horizons, even after adjusting for time-varying forecast difficulty. Most individual models predicted the turning points with a lag, and very few models excelled at predicting the troughs and …

How The Concept Of Race And Ethnicity Played An Integral Role In The Sri Lanka Civil War From A Sociological Perspective, Pasan Vinura Joseph De Silva

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

The social constructs of race and ethnicity played a pivotal role in the Sri Lankan Civil War as the intercommunal violence between the Sinhalese and Tamil groups was attributed to discriminatory policies. However, there is a lack of literature from published academic sources and archival/governmental data pertaining to the variables of race and ethnicity from a sociological perspective. The concept of race and ethnicity are an integral component of social conflict that identifies positions through self-consciousness as a cultural, religious, and linguistic community. This thesis utilizes historical research through qualitative secondary data sources to analyze how racial and ethnic inequities …

The Interpretation Of Measurement, Austin David O'Connor

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

The interpretation of measurement representations, such as blueprints and 3D models, has been debated in engineering offices and philosophical colloquiums alike. A resurgence has begun in the philosophical literature which focuses on the recent International System of Units (SI) change in the base unit definitions. Additionally, a recent revision in the form of ASME Y14.5-2018 has been adopted by prominent engineering firms in America. This revision limits the number of viable interpretations for the Geometric Dimensioning & Tolerancing (GD&T) system of blueprint guidelines, which is meant to more effectively streamline communication between differing industries regarding part features and allowable extremities. …

Exploring Family Experiences In Supporting Children’S Literacy Development During The Coronavirus Pandemic, Sarahlee Desir

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

In March of 2020, the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a pandemic, drastically changing teaching and learning. Children were immediately placed in emergency remote learning, and parents became facilitators of their children’s learning while children were in their virtual learning space. This study explored families' experiences with literacy development for children in second to third grade during the Coronavirus pandemic to learn how changing school experiences influenced family functioning around in-school and out-of-school literacy engagement activities. The study addressed these research questions: How did families support their children's changing and evolving school experiences during the Coronavirus pandemic? (a) In what …

Season Of The Chanterelles And Other Stories, Kirsten Ferguson

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

This collection of short literary fiction springs loosely from a contemplation of the enduring influence of Washington Irving’s Gothic in the Hudson Valley. The first story, “Life Is Good,” centers on a fictionalized account of a morbidly obese bear named Allen and a resilient child, Henny, who forms an unlikely bond with the captive animal, reflecting on themes of nature, independence, and abandonment. The second story, “Recipes for Radicals,” delves into the COVID-19 pandemic with a diary-like structure and an underlying theme of confronting moral injustices and the complexities of justice and revenge. In “The Wild Thing,” the protagonist, Meredith, …

The Role Of Community-Based Organizations In The Mental Health Or Wellbeing And The Media Use In Receiving Social Support Among Asian International Students, Yunmi Lee

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

One of the prominent barriers which hinder international students’ integration into their new communities is acculturative stress. Social support is one of the resources which people can utilize to cope with stress. Community-based organizations (CBOs) can be used as sources of social support for international students who do not have strong social ties near them. In this study, how CBOs can play a role as sources of social support and as a resource to cope with stress among Asian international students was investigated. In addition, media use in receiving social support was explored. The present study used mixed methods with …

Do You Think This Is Some Kind Of Game? An Examination Of The Validity Of The Trust Game, Alexander Quellhorst

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Although we have a familiarity with trust that begins at infancy, we still struggle to agree on what trust is. Even after decades of trusting others, trying to be trustworthy, and experiencing betrayal, we form definitions of trust that only scratch the surface. Turning to scholars in order to improve our understanding of trust has offered limited guidance; some refer to trust as an emotional state, some think of it as a belief, and others label trust as a kind of prediction or calculation. Regardless of the sheer complexity of trust and its neighboring ideas – i.e., betrayal, expectation, reliance …

Evaluating The Association Between Social Determinants Of Health And Substance Use Disorder In A New York State Mental Health Population, Marum Sadiq

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

BackgroundOne in three adults in the United States had a mental illness or substance use disorder in 2021 and co-occurring disorders affect 7.6% of the adult population. Substance use disorders are more common in individuals with mental health problems, and serious mental illness is three times more prevalent in adults with substance use disorder (SUD). Social determinants of health such as socioeconomic status, criminal justice involvement, and unemployment may contribute to vulnerability for co-occurring mental health and substance use disorders. The purpose of this study was to examine the association between social determinants of health and substance use disorder in …

An Assessment Of Coastal Impacts To The Natural And Built Assets Of The New York State Office Of Parks, Recreation And Historic Preservation, Kelsey Ruffino

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Climate change is expected to cause an increase in heavy precipitation events, flooding, and sea level rise in New York State, which will have significant impacts on coastal areas. Almost half of New York's state parks and historic sites, which are managed by the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation (OPRHP), are located in major coastal areas, including the Atlantic Ocean, Hudson River, Lake Erie, and Lake Ontario. As the effects of climate change become more pronounced in these areas, a selection of OPRHP’s infrastructure and natural, cultural, and historic resources will be at risk. To …

Variations And Approximations Of Interleaving Distances, Robert Cardona

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

We present three different topics covering (1) presentation-based distances, (2) approximate nerve theorems, and (3) networks and persistence.We present seven main results (A) - (G).

Near-Optimal Motion Planning Algorithms Via A Topological And Geometric Perspective, Aakriti Kumari Upadhyay

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Motion planning is a fundamental problem in robotics, which involves finding a path for an autonomous system, such as a robot, from a given source to a destination while avoiding collisions with obstacles. The properties of the planning space heavily influence the performance of existing motion planning algorithms, which can pose significant challenges in handling complex regions, such as narrow passages or cluttered environments, even for simple objects. The problem of motion planning becomes deterministic if the details of the space are fully known, which is often difficult to achieve in constantly changing environments. Sampling-based algorithms are widely used among …

A Broader And Deeper Foundation: The Alternative Vision Of James Wilson's Political Philosophy, David Ferkaluk

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

This dissertation rediscovers the forgotten political philosophy of founding father James Wilson, revealing its alternative vision for American politics. Wilson interpreted popular sovereignty as both a political and moral principle. Borrowing heavily from Scottish philosopher Thomas Reid, Wilson adapted Reidian epistemology, philosophical psychology, and moral science to explain how “the people” acted simultaneously as political actors and moral agents. The people acted with the goal of achieving their happiness, which Wilson defined as moral excellence. With his moral definition of happiness, Wilson intentionally linked the Declaration of Independence with the US Constitution, understanding the latter as building on the foundation …

Volunteer Fire Departments Confront A Challenge: Socializing For Trust While Diversifying For Survival, Alison Hart Romain

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

This qualitative study that analyzed data from interviews, observations, texts, and artifacts sought to answer the following questions: What qualities and characteristics are most valued in HROs such as fire departments? How are bonding, trust, and cohesion observably accomplished in high reliability organizations (HROs) such as fire departments? How do informal communicative practices unique to fire departments participate in this accomplishment at interpersonal and organizational levels? How do these informal communicative practices contribute to fostering diversity or perpetuating exclusion? The results of the study were that fitting in socially was a key determinant of successful assimilation. Additionally, as HROs, fire …

Masks And Mirrors: The Authorial Selfhood Of J.M. Coetzee’S Elizabeth Costello And Susan Barton, Emily R. Peters

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

This thesis examines the authorial characters of Elizabeth Costello, from the novel of thesame name, and Susan Barton, the protagonist of the novel “Foe,” both authored by South African-born writer J. M. Coetzee, through the ontological concept of the Heideggerian Dasein. Both fictional characters contend with the issues of alienation of Self and the struggle for reciprocal Othering imposed upon them by the social constructs of their authorhood and struggle for an authentic self, specifically in view of the performative nature of their gendered roles and the issue of Coetzee’s male authorhood.

Constructing, Integrating, And Testing The Choice Set For Models Of Offender Decision-Making, Matthew Kijowski

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Models of offender decision-making are premised on a rational actor weighing the perceived options within their choice set. One will choose to engage in a behavioral option that provides them with the greatest benefits and fewest costs as compared to the other perceived options. Even though the choice set is the foundation from which offender decision-making is built, criminologists, and offender decision-making scholars specifically, have assumed the choice set without directly measuring it. Without appraising the choice set, a multi-step process of decision-making is collapsed into a single step. This precludes an understanding of the composition of the choice set, …

An Evaluation Of High-Resolution Model Simulations Of Orographic Precipitation, Snowpack, Atmospheric Rivers, And Their Climate Sensitivities In The Southern Andes, Erin Potter

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Orographic precipitation and snowpack are important for water resources and hydrometeorological hazards in the Andes Mountain range. As the climate warms, South American atmospheric rivers (ARs) are expected to increase in frequency and intensity, leading to increased orographic precipitation. Improved understanding of orographic precipitation and snowpack, and their association with ARs, in a warming climate is needed to provide a foundation for understanding future hydroclimate change over the Andes. The goal of this research is to evaluate how well variations in high-resolution regional climate simulations over the southern Andes (30-55°S), agree with observations of (1) orographic precipitation and (2) snowpack …

Exploiting Natural Rna 2′-5′-Linkage In Nucleic Acid Aptamers And Dna Nanostructures, Johnsi Mathivanan

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Developments in chemical synthesis of nucleic acid sequences and modifications have aided in the study of biomolecular interactions and the roles of modified nucleic acids in biology, medicine, and nanotechnology. This work describes some of the aspects of such developments, from synthesis of chemically modified RNA and DNA aptamers that can bind antibiotics and metal ions to the use of nucleic acids with novel backbone linkages in the construction of nanostructures. Analysis of such nucleic acid structures inform us on the basic structure of these molecules and the resulting functions that are applicable in fields such as biosensing, drug screening …

Effect Of Hope On Contingent Faculty Members’ Engagement In Professional Development Activities, Jingyi Huang

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Employers and employees face new challenges with the rapid increase in contingent employment. This dissertation focuses on career development, one critical challenge contingent employees face. Contingent employees often receive limited resources and employer support, increasing career management's difficulties and uncertainty. As a result, contingent employees may need to exert greater “willpower” and “waypower” in their pursuit of career goals. Snyder’s hope theory (Snyder, 2002) and Lazarus and Folkman’s (1984) appraisal theory were employed to explore and explain how hope relates to contingent workers’ engagement in career development activities. Snyder (2002) posited hope as a goal-oriented thinking process involving agency and …