Digital Commons Network^™

Evaluating Ecosystem Health Of The Salt Creek Basin Through Two-Eyed Seeing, Shelby Serritella

Department of Environmental Studies: Undergraduate Student Theses

Few instances of prior research into socio-ecological health have brought together both Indigenous Knowledge Systems and Western science, especially in Nebraska. This study attempts to fill this gap in Lancaster County, Nebraska by using “Two-Eyed Seeing”. This equitably combines both Indigenous Knowledge Systems (qualitative data), obtained through oral interviews with Indigenous community members, and Western science (quantitative data), obtained through USGS, UNL, and U.S. Drought Monitor databases, to assess ecosystem health. Changes to the Salt Creek Basin were collected and analyzed through this Two-Eyed Seeing framework. Results found that there are high levels of consensus between both knowledge systems regarding …

The Decline Of Upland Birds In Nebraska: Maximizing Limited Habitat, Hunter Tesarek

Department of Environmental Studies: Undergraduate Student Theses

Ring-necked Pheasants were introduced into the United States around 150 years ago and since then have become an important species both culturally and economically. There population health is of growing concern as upland bird populations in much of the United States have been declining rapidly throughout the latter half of the last century. In Nebraska millions of acres have been transformed from habitat that benefits upland birds into row crop agriculture, mostly in the form of corn and soybeans. Rural Mail Carrier Surveys conducted for pheasants from 1960 through 2020 in comparison to change in acres harvested depict the relationship …

Identifying A Consumer–Producer Agricultural Knowledge Gap, Aspen Rittgarn

Department of Environmental Studies: Undergraduate Student Theses

The purpose of this paper and online survey was to see if an agricultural knowledge gap between consumers and producers be found. Low agricultural literacy rates can lead to misconceptions of the agriculture industry, unhealthy food choices, environmentally unfriendly product choices, food waste, etc. The hypothesis for this thesis is that those born in the mid1960s to early 1980s (Generation X) will be the start of an increased knowledge gap. The survey was compiled of both qualitative and quantitative questions and questions were inspired by American Farm Bureau’s AITC Benchmarks. Responses were analyzed and the results revealed that my participants …

When To Use “Survival,” “Survival Time,” And “Survival Rate”, Research Medical Library

Word for Word 2023

No abstract provided.

Optimizing Resource Utilization, Efficiency And Scalability In Deep Learning Systems, Xiaofeng Wu

Computer Science and Engineering Dissertations - Archive

This thesis addresses the challenges of utilization, efficiency, and scalability faced by deep learning systems, which are essential for high-performance training and serving of deep learning models. Deep learning systems play a critical role in developing accurate and complex models for various applications, including image recognition, natural language understanding, and speech recognition. This research focuses on understanding and developing deep learning systems that encompass data preprocessing, resource management, multi-tenancy, and distributed model training. The thesis proposes several solutions to improve the performance, scalability, and efficiency of deep learning applications. Firstly, we introduce SwitchFlow, a scheduling framework that addresses the limitations …

The Uncertain Judge, Courtney M. Cox

University of Chicago Law Review

The intellectually honest judge faces a very serious problem about which little has been said. It is this: What should a judge do when she knows all the relevant facts, laws, and theories of adjudication, but still remains uncertain about what she ought to do? Such occasions will arise, for whatever her preferred theory about how she ought to decide a given case—what I will call her preferred “jurisprudence”— she may harbor lingering doubts that a competing jurisprudence is correct instead. And sometimes, these competing jurisprudences provide conflicting guidance. When that happens, what should she do?

Drawing on emerging debates …

In Defense Of Chapter 11 For Mass Torts, Anthony J. Casey, Joshua C. Macey

University of Chicago Law Review

This Essay argues that bankruptcy proceedings are well-suited to resolving mass tort claims. Mass tort cases create a collective action problem that encourages claimants who are worried about available recoveries to race to the courthouse to collect ahead of others. This race can destroy going concern value and lead to the dismemberment of valuable firms. Coordination among claimants is difficult as each one seeks to maximize its own recoveries. These are the very collective action and holdout problems that bankruptcy proceedings are designed to solve. As such, bankruptcy proceedings are appropriate means of resolving mass torts as long as they …

Testing The Interaction Between A Substellar Companion And A Debris Disk In The Hr 2562 System, Stella Yimiao Zhang, Gaspard Duchêne, Robert J. De Rosa, Megan Ansdell, Quinn Konopacky, Thomas Esposito, Eugene Chiang, Malena Rice, Brenda Matthews, Paul Kalas, Bruce Macintosh, Franck Marchis, Stan Metchev, Jenny Patience, Julien Rameau, Kimberly Ward-Duong, Schuyler Wolff, Michael P. Fitzgerald, Vanessa P. Bailey, Travis S. Barman, Joanna Bulger, Christine H. Chen, Jeffrey K. Chilcotte, Tara Cotten, René Doyon, Katherine B. Follette, Benjamin L. Gerard, Stephen Goodsell, James R. Graham, Alexandra Z. Greenbaum, Pascale Hibon, Li Wei Hung

Astronomy: Faculty Publications

The HR 2562 system is a rare case where a brown dwarf companion resides in a cleared inner hole of a debris disk, offering invaluable opportunities to study the dynamical interaction between a substellar companion and a dusty disk. We present the first ALMA observation of the system as well as the continued Gemini Planet Imager monitoring of the companion's orbit with six new epochs from 2016 to 2018. We update the orbital fit, and in combination with absolute astrometry from GAIA, place a 3σ upper limit of 18.5 M J on the companion's mass. To interpret the ALMA observations, …

Beyond States: A Constitutional History Of Territory, Statehood, And Nation-Building, Craig Green

University of Chicago Law Review

The United States has always been more than simply a group of united states. The constitutional history of national union and component states is linked to a third category: federal territory. This Article uses an integrated history of territory, statehood, and union to develop a new framework for analyzing constitutional statehood. Three historical periods are crucial—the Founding Era, the Civil War, and Reconstruction—as times when statehood was especially malleable as a matter of constitutional law. During each of those formative periods, the most important constitutional struggles about statehood and the union involved federal territories.

Conflicts about territories reveal an important …

Taming Wildcat Stablecoins, Gary B. Gorton, Jeffery Y. Zhang

University of Chicago Law Review

Cryptocurrencies, including stablecoins, are all the rage. Investors are exploring ways to profit off of them. Governments are considering ways to regulate them. While the technology underlying cryptocurrencies is new, the economics is centuries old. Oftentimes, lawmakers are so focused on understanding a new technological innovation that they fail to ask what exactly is being created.

In this case, the new technology has recreated circulating private money in the form of stablecoins, which are similar to the banknotes that circulated in many countries during the nineteenth century. The implication is that stablecoin issuers are unregulated banks. Based on lessons learned …

Repytah: An Open-Source Python Package For Building Aligned Hierarchies For Sequential Data, Chenhui Jia, Lizette Carpenter, Thu Tran, Amanda Y. Liu, Sasha Yeutseyva, Mariun Tapal, Yingke Wang, Zoie Kexin Zhou, Jordan Moody, Denise Nava, Eleanor Donaher, Lillian Yusha Jiang, Ben Bruncati, Katherine M. Kinnaird

Computer Science: Faculty Publications

We introduce repytah, a Python package that constructs the aligned hierarchies representation that contains all possible structure-based hierarchical decompositions for a finite length piece of sequential data aligned on a common time axis. In particular, this representation–introduced by Kinnaird (2016) with music-based data (like musical recordings or scores) as the primary motivation–is intended for sequential data where repetitions have particular meaning (such as a verse, chorus, motif, or theme). Although the original motivation for the aligned hierarchies representation was finding structure for music-based data streams, there is nothing inherent in the construction of these representations that limits repytah to only …

Textbook Affordability At Smith College: Affirming Smith's Commitment To Creating An Inclusive, Equitable And Accessible Educational Community, Natalie Laroche

Other Student Projects

The U.S. Public Interest Research Group’s (PIRG) Education Fund, notes that “in 2020, 65 percent of students surveyed reported skipping buying a textbook because of cost” (Vitez & Nagle, n.d.). The costs of course materials are rising at astronomical rates. According to the Student PIRGs, “the cost of textbooks and course materials has increased at three times the rate of inflation since the 1970s” (Xie, 2023). Textbooks are unnecessarily expensive and are increasingly a barrier to education access and student success. Extensive research has demonstrated that while publishers can get away with (and profit off of) high prices, students who …

Morphological And Functional Classification Of The Amblyomma Americanum (Lone Star Tick) Hemocytes, Julia Hanson

Honors Theses

Ticks are a diverse group of obligate blood-feeding (hematophagous) arthropods that transmit a wide array of human and animal pathogens. These pathogens have caused an increase in tick-borne diseases that pose a significant threat to public health without preventative measures. These pathogens interact with the tick immune system upon uptake, which is primarily divided into humoral and cellular components. Cellular immunity in ticks encompasses several pathogen-eliminating mechanisms including phagocytosis. These mechanisms are mediated by the action of immune cells, commonly referred to as hemocytes, which are analogous to mammalian white blood cells. This study utilized a combination of morphological, functional, …

Narratives Of Feminist Resistance: Women's Bodily Autonomy And The Dystopian Mode, Grace J. Bromage

English Honors Theses

This undergraduate thesis examines how dystopian fiction has responded to the sociopolitical issue of restrictions on women’s bodily autonomy, a question that has become more timely since the reversal of Roe v. Wade in Summer 2022. Particularly, I aim to understand how readers can use dystopian novels to shape real-world dialogue and how authors can use narrative strategies to encourage readers to resist oppression. My first chapter takes a broad approach, tracing the development of dystopian fiction from a genre to a mode and using Marge Piercy’s Woman on the Edge of Time (1976) as a case study of how …

Through Her Eyes: Learning And Teaching About Racism Through "To Kill A Mockingbird" And "The Bluest Eye", Sloane Larsen

English Honors Theses

This thesis argues that Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye and Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird both merit a place in te United States’ secondary education systems by using use them in the classroom to encourage students to recognize and challenge their biases, perspectives, and choices. One of the many complex questions this thesis addresses is the efficacy of teaching students about racism using such novels. Teaching these novels through Critical Race Theory could help create a new generation of students who are more likely to address and challenge their biases and privilege. At the same time, this approach requires …

A Project Management Guide For An Organization In The Cultural Resource Management Sector, Emma Graves

Student Projects for Graduate Degrees

Drayton Archaeology, a cultural resource management company, is working to expand their operations into larger and more complicated projects. Many changes and updates to the company’s internal processes and structure are necessary to ensure a large expansion would be feasible. One of those updates is the creation of a project management guide. For many years, Drayton Archaeology has utilized a close-knit company structure and informal communication to provide instructions to project managers on how to plan, execute, and close projects within the company. To support growth objectives, a more robust project management approach was necessary to improve effectiveness and outcomes, …

The Art Of Mukluk Making; The Preservation Of Yup'ik Boots, Jolene D. Lyon

Student Projects for Graduate Degrees

The Art of Mukluk Making has been dwindling for the past 50 years in my lifetime; with the passing of the elderly women within the Yup’ik community, they took this skill’s expertise with them. Today only a tiny handful of elders are alive to share their proficiency. Those interested in the traditional role want to learn to preserve the knowledge to make them for their children and family members; others want to make them for the challenge of wanting to learn, and some for the simplicity of keeping the culture alive. No matter how it is perceived, teachers and experts …

Optimized And Integrated Project Schedule Management Methodology For Ensuring Suitability, Feasibility, And Acceptability Of A Cost-Constrained Affordable Housing Program In Anchorage, Alaska, Fitzgerald Umah

Student Projects for Graduate Degrees

The housing deficit in Alaska is growing annually. The Municipality of Anchorage is in dire need of Affordable Housing. The housing sector has been the bedrock of most developed nations' economies. Housing construction indices are vital for measuring economic developments in emerging countries. Urban dwellers make up about 55% of the global population. This share is predicted to rise dramatically by 2030, adding 1.6 billion people to urban regions. Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa, particularly India, China, and Nigeria, will account for 90% of this rise. (U.N. 2020). The building sector wants to alleviate Alaska's affordable housing shortfall, but government regulations, …

A Standardized Communication Guide For Anchorage Municipality, Sasha-Gaye Hart

Student Projects for Graduate Degrees

As the most populous city in the state of Alaska, with approximately 40% of the state’s total residents, Anchorage has a deficit of affordable housing that affects its residents’ economic standards. There has been an increase in affordable housing for homeless to low-income inhabitants, with recent setbacks due to high unemployment, pandemic and inflation that have hindered Anchorage’s housing sector. An integrated communication guide with effective distribution, collection and storage of information are critical components that bridge information dispersion, negotiation and collaborative processes among stakeholders and resources. Different communication approaches for stakeholders are adapted to impart homogeneity and interconnectivity for …

Application Of Project Management Concepts To Planning A 5k Athletic Event, Dylan Fowler

Student Projects for Graduate Degrees

University of Alaska Anchorage (UAA) Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) is an organization dedicated to teaching students leadership and preparing them to enter the United States Army (Army). Every year within the program, students are given the opportunity to plan and execute events for charity. These events are completed with varying degrees of success. Often, project management tools are not used for planning and executing these events. This project applied concepts of project management to create a guide to planning a charity 5k athletic event by ROTC students and others without prior project management experience. Using project resource management, scope …

An Assessment Of Registered Dietitian Nutritionists' Attitudes And Behaviors In Culinary Medicine And The Role Of The Rdn, Ellen Mcewen

Student Projects for Graduate Degrees

Culinary medicine (CM) is an emerging practice that combines evidence-based guidelines for health and disease management with practical food preparation techniques.1,2 Americans spend little time in the kitchen. Meanwhile, chronic diseases such as diabetes, hypertension, and heart disease are increasingly common in the American population. CM can teach practical, buildable skills to help alleviate these conditions. Registered Dietitian Nutritionists (RDNs) are food and nutrition experts who are well-positioned to be leaders in CM interventions but current research suggests an overall lack of understanding in how RDNs engage in CM in their work. Most RDNs work in the clinical setting, which …

Identifying And Analyzing Multi-Star Systems Among Tess Planetary Candidates Using Gaia, Katie E. Bailey

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Exoplanets represent a young, rapidly advancing subfield of astrophysics where much is still unknown. It is therefore important to analyze trends among their parameters to learn more about these systems. More complexity is added to these systems with the presence of additional stellar companions. To study these complex systems, one can employ programming languages such as Python to parse databases such as those constructed by TESS and Gaia to bridge the gap between exoplanets and stellar companions. Data can then be analyzed for trends in these multi-star exoplanet systems and in juxtaposition to their single-star counterparts. This research was able …

A Score Of Voices: Creating And Scoring An Original Film With A Cappella Choir, Zachary James Moore

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Film scores typically feature large instrumental ensembles, sometimes with choir added at pivotal moments. Rarely, however, is the choir entrusted with a greater percentage of the score, and far too scores explore the sonic potential that vocal music has to offer. In fact, in a recent study of 800 films, none contained a score that was completely c. Thus, the body of unaccompanied choral film scores is practically non-existent. This curious gap in repertoire inspired me to create the documentary Downstream (2023) and score it entirely with an unaccompanied choir. The full score to this new work is contained within …

The Rise Of Wavetable Synthesis In Commercial Music And Its Creative Applications, Garrett Norman Scroggs

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Wavetable synthesis is a powerful tool for music creation that helps composers and producers develop their own unique sounds. Though wavetable synthesis has been utilized in music since the early 1980s, advancements in computer technologies in the 2000s and the subsequent releases of software synthesizers in the late 2000s and early 2010s has led to the increased presence of wavetable synthesis in commercial music. This thesis chronicles a historical overview of the use of wavetable synthesis in commercial music and demonstrates the accessibility and power that wavetable synthesis delivers in music creation. The demonstration portion of this thesis features two …

KyōShū, Miyu Aoki

A Midwestern Review: A Magazine of the Arts and Issues at DePauw University

No abstract provided.

To Give Or Not To Give: A Qualitative Descriptive Study On Alumni Giving Behavior At A Historically Black College And University, Shanaee Bodrick

All Dissertations

This qualitative descriptive study explores alumni giving behavior at a private North Carolina Historically Black College and University (HBCU). Specifically, this research examined HBCU alumni experiences, perceptions, and motivations and how these factors influence their decision-making process when contributing financially to their alma mater. This research provides the historical background of HBCUs and how these institutions have been critical in shaping their education and communities. The findings of this study provide the basis for future research on HBCU alumni donors and non-donors. It exposes commonalities and differences between donors and non-donors. In all, this study may act as a reference …

Addressing Vaccine Hesitancy Through A Trust In Science Training Intervention, Nathan Dumessa

All Dissertations

Vaccine hesitancy is an ongoing public health issue that has been underscored by the COVID-19 pandemic and has implications for future pandemics and other vaccines. This research aimed to understand and address the factors associated with hesitancy. Study 1 was a correlational study that measured several factors that could predict vaccine hesitancy among Black and White participants recruited online (n = 364). Findings suggest that trust in science was the strongest predictor of attitudes towards the vaccine’s safety and effectiveness, which in turn strongly predicted vaccine hesitancy. Study 1 established the direct and indirect relationships between several predictors of …

The Six Emotional Dimension (6de) Model: A Multidimensional Approach To Analyzing Human Emotions And Unlocking The Potential Of Emotionally Intelligent Artificial Intelligence (Ai) Via Large Language Models (Llm), Jay Ratican, James Hutson

Faculty Scholarship

The rapid advancements in artificial intelligence (AI) research, particularly in training large language models (LLMs) such as OpenAI's ChatGPT 3.5 and 4, hold significant potential for future applications in education, healthcare, and assisted living. Emotionally intelligent AI systems can provide personalized and adaptive educational experiences, enhancing engagement and educational outcomes. In healthcare, they can offer empathetic mental health support, augmenting existing resources. In assisted living, AI companions can provide emotional support, cognitive stimulation, and monitoring services, promoting independence and safety. However, ethical considerations and privacy safeguards are crucial to ensure responsible deployment. Integrating emotionally intelligent AI in these domains has …

Assessing Gaps In Motherhood After Cancer: Development And Psychometric Testing Of The Survivorship Oncofertility Barriers Scale, Aubri Hoffman, Chloe Josephine Denham, Shuangshuang Fu, Tito Mendoza, Roni Nitecki, Kirsten A Jorgensen, Jose Garcia, Kelly Lamiman, Terri L Woodard, J Alejandro Rauh-Hain

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Objective: With a growing population of young cancer survivors, there is an increasing need to address the gaps in evidence regarding cancer survivors' obstetric outcomes, fertility care access, and experiences. As part of a large research program, this study engaged survivors and experts in co-developing and testing the validity, reliability, acceptability, and feasibility of a scale to assess survivor-reported barriers to motherhood after cancer.

Methods: Scale items were developed based on literature and expert review of 226 reproductive health items, and six experience and focus groups with 26 survivors of breast and gynecological cancers. We then invited 128 survivors to …

Improving Inference Speed Of Perception Systems In Autonomous Unmanned Ground Vehicles, Bradley Selee

All Theses

Autonomous vehicle (AV) development has become one of the largest research challenges in businesses and research institutions. While much research has been done, autonomous driving still requires extensive amounts of research due to its immense, multi-factorial difficulty. Autonomous vehicles rely on many complex systems to function, make accurate decisions, and, above all, provide maximum safety. One of the most crucial components of autonomous driving is the perception system.

The perception system allows the vehicle to identify its surroundings and make accurate, but safe, decisions through the use of computer vision techniques like object detection, image segmentation, and path planning. Due …