Digital Commons Network^™

The Persuasive Effect Of Legitimation Campaign Discourse, Kelvin Mathayo Lukanga

Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences

This paper is concerned with the persuasive effect of legitimation discourse on Tanzanians’ voting decisions. It examines how former President Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete and Dr Wilbroad Slaa deployed language during the 2010 presidential election campaign to elicit support from the electorate. It also looks at non-discursive/non linguistic factors that influenced the same decisions. The data analysed in this paper is from some of their campaign speeches, and from focus group discussions as well. In analysing the data and discussing the findings, the study draws on Theo van Leeuwen’s semantic-functional approach to critical discourse analysis (henceforth CDA). The results show that …

Challenges And Prospects For The Rock Art Of Mumba Rock-Shelter, Pastory M. Bushozi

Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences

The Mumba rock-shelter and its surrounding landscape are places where evidences for the evolution of human cognitive behaviour and other cultural practices have been uncovered. Deep and stratified archaeological deposits recorded at Mumba have shown unique distinctive technological and behavioural traits with possible connections between Middle Stone Age (MSA), Later Stone Age (LSA), Neolithic, and Iron Age cultures. Archaeological records were found associated with symbolic-revealing objects such as ochre pigments, beads, and stone rubber stained with red ochre, which express the cognitive ability of ancestors who inhabited Mumba rock-shelter and the surrounding landscape from the MSA to the present. Ochre …

Contextualising The Pillars Of Household Food Security: Evidence From Iringa District, Tanzania, Tiemo Romward Haule

Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences

This paper contextualises the pillars of food security based on the perceptions of local communities in Iringa district, Tanzania. The pillars are food availability, food accessibility, food affordability, food adequacy, food acceptability and food stability. The study involved 376 participants. Structured interviews, field observation, focused group discussions, in depth interviews and documentary review were the methods used for data collection. Findings reveal that many households (76.2%) in Iringa were facing food shortage. The findings show that food insecurity in the district was exacerbated by the lack of steadiness in the six pillars of household food security. Given its semi-arid climatic …

Using Solar Radiation Data In Soil Moisture Diagnostic Equation For Estimating Root-Zone Soil Moisture, Olumide Omotere, Feifei Pan, Lei Wang

Faculty Publications

The soil moisture daily diagnostic equation (SMDE) evaluates the relationship between the loss function coefficient and the summation of the weighted average of precipitation. The loss function coefficient uses the day of the year (DOY) to approximate the seasonal changes in soil moisture loss for a given location. Solar radiation is the source of the energy that drives the complex and intricates of the earth-atmospheric processes and biogeochemical cycles in the environment. Previous research assumed DOY is the approximation of other environmental factors (e.g., temperature, wind speed, solar radiation). In this article, two solar radiation parameters were introduced, i.e., the …

Total Hip Arthroplasty In Patients With Neurological Conditions: A Systematic Review, Conor S O'Driscoll, Andrew J Hughes, Martin S Davey, Joseph M Queally, Brendan J O'Daly

Rothman Institute Papers

Background: As operative techniques and implant design have evolved over time, total hip arthroplasty (THA) is increasingly being carried out for patients with neurological impairment. This patient group places unique surgical challenges to the arthroplasty surgeon, which may include contractures, instability, and altered muscular tone. The purpose of this systematic review is to report the patient outcomes, complications, and implant survival following THA for patients with neurological conditions affecting the hip. Thus, we aim to support orthopaedic surgeon decision-making when considering and planning THA for these patients.

Methods: A systematic review was performed as per Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic …

Literature Review On Water Desalination Plant Production And Brine Disposal Methods, Grace Kollars

Department of Environmental Studies: Undergraduate Student Theses

Water scarcity is an issue all around the world because people have a lack of clean and available drinking water. One way this issue can be eased and people can have more access to water is implementing water desalination plants around the world. Since most of the water on earth cannot be drunk, there are ways to turn the over abundance of salty waters we have on this planet into fresh, drinkable water to ease the water insecurity. There are many methods out there that can be used for water desalination, most of them involving membrane technologies. The most efficient …

Eastern Redcedar Reduces Regeneration And Diversity In The Forests Of The Niobrara River Valley, Abigail Ridder

Department of Environmental Studies: Undergraduate Student Theses

Boundary forests are found growing interdigitated with grasslands across the Great Plains. The Niobrara River valley boundary forest has a unique composition of species not seen anywhere else in North America. Encroachment of eastern redcedar (Juniperus virginiana L.) into grasslands and forests is significantly increasing eastern redcedar’s presence in the Niobrara River Valley as well as in the rest of the Great Plains region. This tree species is capable of significantly decreasing recruitment and diversity in grasslands, which can change the composition of the entire ecosystem. However, the effect of eastern redcedar on recruitment and diversity of naturally forested ecosystems …

Analyzing Recycling Options For Wind Turbine Blade Waste, Awinita Bunner

Department of Environmental Studies: Undergraduate Student Theses

The purpose of this study was to conduct a systematic literature review to identify recycling options for wind turbine blade waste. Wind energy is a rapidly growing energy source due to its renewability and accessibility. However, the turbines that produce this energy have blades that must be replaced throughout the turbine’s lifetime. The standard disposal method of decommissioned blades is the landfill. However, problems are arising within states as landfills are being overrun by the wind turbine blades once they reach their end-of-life. Conducting this study aims to provide a list of recycling options and provide an evaluation of each …

Outdoor Recreation And Its Effect On Our Relationship With The Environment, Martin Brannaman

Department of Environmental Studies: Undergraduate Student Theses

This study was conducted at the University of Nebraska Outdoor Adventure Center. This study employed a pre-post retrospective assessment looking at individuals' connection with nature after embarking on a direct outdoor experience. A direct outdoor experience is when an individual is outside and not surrounded by manmade structures (Kil, 2016). I believe that after a direct outdoor experience the sample group will have a significant change in their connection to nature. The objective is to measure change in a group's connection to nature, through the Connectedness to Nature Scale (CNS, Mayer & Frantz, 2004). The population was a group of …

Pre-Existing Diabetes Mellitus, Hypertension And Kidneydisease As Risk Factors Of Pre-Eclampsia: A Disease Of Theories And Its Association With Genetic Polymorphism, Abdullah Salah Alanazi, Francis Victor, Kanwal Rehman, Yusra Habib Khan, Ismaeel Yunusa Ph.D., Abdulaziz Alzarea, Muhammad Sajid Hamid Akash, Tauqeer Hussain Mallhi

Faculty Publications

Pre-existing diabetes, hypertension and kidney disorders are prominent risk factors of pre-eclampsia (PE). It is a multifactorial pregnancy disorder associated with high blood pressure, proteinuria, and multiorgan failure, which develops after the 20th week of pregnancy. It is one of the most feared pregnancy disorders, as it consumes thousands of fetomaternal lives per annum. According to clinical and pathological studies, the placenta appears to be a key player in the pathogenesis of PE; however, the exact origin of this disorder is still under debate. Defective placentation and angiogenesis are the hallmarks of PE progression. This angiogenic imbalance, together with maternal …

Nucleation-Accumulation Mode Trade-Off In Non-Volatile Particle Emissions From A Small Non-Road Small Diesel Engine, Indranil Brahma, Odinmma John-Paul Ofili

Faculty Journal Articles

Small (< 8 kW) non-road engines are a significant source of pollutants such as particle number (PN) emissions. Many small non-road engines do not have diesel particulate filters (DPFs). They are so designed that air–fuel ratio (AFR) can be adjusted to control visible diesel smoke and particulate matter (PM) resulting from larger accumulation mode particles. However, the effect of AFR variation on smaller nucleation mode nanoparticle emissions is not well understood. Several studies on larger engines have reported a trade-off between smaller and larger particles. In this study, AFR was independently varied over the entire engine map of a naturally aspirated (NA) non-road small diesel engine using forced induction (FI) of externally compressed air. AFR’s ranged from 57 to 239 compared to the design range of 23–92 for the engine, including unusually high AFR’s at full-load operation, not previously reported for conventional combustion. As expected, larger accumulation mode particles were lowered (up to 15 times) for FI operation. However, the smaller nucleation mode nanoparticles increased up to 15 times. Accumulation mode particles stopped decreasing above an AFR threshold while nucleation particles continuously increased. In-cylinder combustion analysis showed a slightly smaller ignition delay and higher burn rate for FI cases relative to NA operation. Much higher peak cylinder pressures were accompanied by much lower combustion and exhaust gas temperatures (EGT), due to higher in-cylinder mass during FI operation. Peak nucleation mode emissions were shown to be negatively correlated to EGT for all the data, collapsing on a single curve. This is consistent with some other studies reporting increased nucleation mode emissions (and higher accumulation mode particles) with decreased load, lower speed, lower EGR, advanced combustion phasing, and higher injection pressure, all of which reduce EGT. The nucleation-accumulation trade-off has been explained by the ‘adsorption hypothesis’ by some investigators. In the current work, an alternative/supplemental argument has been made for the possibility that lower cylinder temperatures during the late-burning phase (correlated to lower EGT) phase hampers oxidation of nucleation mode particles and increases nucleation mode emissions.

Working To Be Seen And Heard, Camila Sánchez-González

University Libraries Blog Archive

Camila Sánchez-González '23 goes through the University Archives and finds women's voices in the history of UD. In her research through student-run publications and other sources, she learns just how women were seen and heard during the 1960s.

Whalesong 2022-12-01 (V.42 No.5), Mike Flunker, Aj Schultz, Lucas Stewart, Teigan Akagi, Liz Fruechtnict, Carrie Kline, Shaelene Moler, Olive Brend

Whalesong

No abstract provided.

Teacher Decision Making In Teaching About The Holocaust Through Art, Julie Bell, Connie Schaffer, Kimberly Gangwish

Teacher Education Faculty Publications

The primary objective of this comparative case study was to explore how secondary teachers make decisions regarding teaching about the Holocaust using the art of Samuel Bak as text. The researchers analyzed self-created curriculum materials, responses to a questionnaire about teacher decision-making processes, and interviews with three secondary teachers whose students visited an exhibit of Bak’s art. The researchers find that teachers have agency to make decisions based on materials, standards and curriculum, and personal connections to the content while relying on a student-centered approach. Implications for further research include a deeper exploration of teachers’ awareness of their decision making.

Designing For Best Use Of The Downtown I-345 Corridor In Dallas, Tx: Stakeholder Perspectives, Matthew Thornton

Landscape Architecture Masters & Design Theses - Archive

What is a city? It’s more than a location where many people live and work. It is a conglomeration of shared experience over generations. One generation informs the next, which informs how each subsequent generation adds to the development of their shared home. This is what gives each city its own unique form, character, and identity. But what happens if a city repeatedly outgrows itself, disconnects its communities, and demolishes the physical memory of its own cultural history? Dallas, Texas is one such city confronting these issues and is perceived as one without significant place memory or culture (if not …

Christmas Lights: A Judgmental Guide, Jase Graves

Erma Bombeck Writers' Workshop Blog

One of my fondest childhood memories of Christmas in the 1970s was riding around in the family station wagon, "Bessie," to look at Christmas lights while I whined to my parents about needing a snack — again. There was something magical about a familiar evening landscape transformed to a radiant wonderland at the expense of someone's lumbar spine.

Divergent Post-Breeding Spatial Habitat Use Of Laysan And Black-Footed Albatross, Fredrick Dallas Jordan, Scott A. Shaffer, Melinda G. Conners, Julia E.F. Stepanuk, Morgan E. Gilmour, Corey A. Clatterbuck, Elliott L. Hazen, Daniel M. Palacios, Yann Tremblay, Michelle Antolos, David G. Foley, Steven J. Bograd, Daniel P. Costa, Lesley H. Thorne

Faculty Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity

Understanding the at-sea movements of wide-ranging seabird species throughout their annual cycle is essential for their conservation and management. Habitat use and resource partitioning of Laysan (Phoebastria immutabilis) and black-footed (Phoebastria nigripes) albatross are well-described during the breeding period but are less understood during the post-breeding period, which represents ~40% of their annual cycle. Resource partitioning may be reduced during post-breeding, when birds are not constrained to return to the nest site regularly and can disperse to reduce competitive pressure. We assessed the degree of spatial segregation in the post-breeding distributions of Laysan (n = 82) and black-footed albatrosses (n …

Towards Parallel Intelligence Of City 5.0: An Ontological Perspective Of Digital Twin Ecosystem, Hafiz Muhammad Arfan Qalamkar

Theses

Through the construction of a city-level digital twin (CDT) prototype that integrates data, models, and insights from many disciplines and sectors of the UAE, the project investigates the potential benefits of dynamic knowledge graph and data-driven models to design national level digital twin. Three work packages are included in the study: Developing a digital twin ontological depiction for simulating national digital twin for UAE and testing Digital scenarios, engaging with local authorities like ADDA and Digital Dubai, modelling experts, and other key stakeholders to collect feedback on the application and future development of DT; and developing a digital twin prototype …

Theorizing, Bounded Rationality, And Expertise: Cognitive Sociology And The Quasi-Realism Of Problem-Solving As A Course Of Activity, Michael W. Raphael

Publications and Research

The question facing sociology is whether it is a field or a discipline. If it is a field, then there is no need for theorizing. However, if sociology is a discipline, then problem-solving cannot be disentangled from theorizing without a loss of intelligibility – the inability to explain the social as the concept of the discipline. Through the quasi-realism of problem-solving as a course of activity, this chapter presents cognitive sociology as a paradigm appropriate to the concept of the social understood as an ongoing course of activity. In doing so, it is shown how bounded rationality and expertise play …

Antidepressants Trial In Parkinson's Disease (Adept-Pd): Protocol For A Randomised Placebo-Controlled Trial On The Effectiveness Of Escitalopram And Nortriptyline On Depressive Symptoms In Parkinson’S Disease, A. Schrag, C. Carroll, G. Duncan, S. Molloy, L. Grover, R. Hunter, R. Brown, N. Freemantle, J. Whipps, M. A. Serfaty, G. Lewis

Peninsula Medical School

Abstract Background Depressive symptoms are common in patients with Parkinson’s disease and depression is a significant predictor of functional impairment, reduced quality of life and general well-being in Parkinson's disease. Despite the high prevalence of depression, evidence on the effectiveness and tolerability of antidepressants in this population is limited. The primary aim of this trial is to establish the clinical and cost effectiveness of escitalopram and nortriptyline for the treatment of depression in Parkinson’s disease. Methods This is a multi-centre, double-blind, randomised placebo-controlled trial in 408 people with Parkinson’s disease with subsyndromal depression, major depressive disorder or persistent depressive disorder …

Intouch Week Of December 12, 2022, New York Medical College

InTouch

• Touro University Marks 50 Years at Celebratory Gala
• Department of Pathology, Microbiology and Immunology Hosts Inaugural Research Symposium
• NYMC Café Re-opens for Business
• StuHe Hosts Career Networking and Mock Interview Event
• NYMC Examines Disparate Access to Breast Cancer Screening and Treatment for Low-Income Communities
• NYMC and TU Present 23rd COVID-19 Symposium

Foundational Support Through Professional Sport: A Case Study On The Chicago Bulls Charities, Austin Schroeder

Nonprofit and NGO Studies Student Projects

This case study on the Chicago Bulls Charities (CBC) offers praise as well as criticism into the professional sport organization (PSO) as a whole along with their corresponding foundation. Corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities are developed and provided by the Chicago Bulls PSO and is not an element of the CBCs mission, justifying a deep dive into the PSO and their CSR activities along with the foundation, the original focus of this study. With limited literature on the topic of corporate philanthropy in professional sports, and with more research in CSR in this field, CSR was added to the research …

Parental Warmth And Disciplinary Strategies In Two-Parent-Adoptive And Biological Families, Jordan Coburn

Theses and Dissertations

Adopted children enter families with parents who on average are older, have higher income, and have more education than other family structures. Because adopted children are moving into families with more resources, research suggests that they would do just as well as, and perhaps even better than, children in biological two-parent households. However, this is not always the case. Understanding how different variables could offset any negative results of adoption is a puzzle that researchers are continually exploring. Previous research has investigated differences in investments from adoptive and biological parents through multiple theoretical lenses. I seek to add to current …

Does Predation Environment Affect Repeated Responses To Predation Cuesâ In The Fishâ Brachyrhaphis Rhabdophora?, Madeleine S. Nate

Theses and Dissertations

Individual organisms face trade-offs when dealing with predation—more time spent avoiding predators often results in less time allocated to energy acquisition and reproductive-related activities. Individuals that optimize this trade-off and respond appropriately to current risk levels in their environment should be at an advantage. What is less clear is whether this tradeoff changes when individuals are repeatedly exposed to a predation threat. There may be advantages to responding consistently to every signal of threat, but it might also be advantageous to modulate individual behavior. Moreover, it is unclear how evolutionary history of a population might affect such individual responses. Our …

High School Dropouts, Higher Education Dreams, And Achievement: A Six-Year Study Of A High-Stakes Test In Brazil, Eveline Miranda

Theses and Dissertations

Rumberger (2020) observed that "dropping out of school has economic and social consequences both for dropouts themselves and for the country as a whole" (p. 151). Every year, many Brazilians drop out of school due to work, early pregnancies, marriage, drug consumption, crime, etc. Dropping out of school can occur due to learning challenges, poor attendance, discipline problems, or a lack of access to high school institutions. Dropouts can experience depression and anxiety and are more likely to attempt suicide. The present dissertation includes two different papers about dropouts. The first paper uses fixed effect regression to show the main …

Structural Reasoning With Rational Expressions, Dana Steinhorst

Theses and Dissertations

Many students struggle to make sense of algebraic expressions in math. This lack of understanding results in students making symbolic manipulation errors, hindering their procedural fluency. Researchers believe these errors are linked to students' lack of structural reasoning. While research has shown that students rarely engage in expert structural reasoning, little is known about how students actually reason structurally. In this study, I interviewed six high school calculus students to study the way they identified, matched, and evaluated structures as they solved problems involving rational expressions and equations. I analyzed the participant interviews and outlined the matching process they used …

Teaching Social-Emotional Learning To Children With Autism Using Animated Avatar Video Modeling, Emelie Davis

Theses and Dissertations

People with a diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) often have difficulties understanding or applying skills related to Social-Emotional Learning (SEL). An individual having a better understanding of SEL concepts is generally associated with more fulfilling connections with others and increased satisfaction in life. Since people with ASD tend to have greater success with learning in structured environments, we created a module to teach these skills using Nearpod. These modules were created with videos of a person embodying a cartoon dog face using Animoji for two reasons; because the animation was meant to appeal to children, and the creation was …

Determination Of A Catalytic Mechanism By Time Resolved Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy And Time Domain Analysis Of Data From Fourier Transform Ion Cyclotron Resonance Mass Spectrometry, Jacob T. Davis

Theses and Dissertations

Heterobimetallic catalysts offer large potential for efficient and selective catalysis of a wide range of reactions. Better understanding of these catalytic mechanisms could yield further improvement in their catalytic abilities. Cp(CO)2Fe-Cu(IPr) (IPr = N,N-bis(2,6-diisopropylphenyl)imidazol-2-ylidene) is a catalyst that has been reported to catalyze arene borylation. The catalytic mechanism of this catalyst that had been previously proposed had the initial step being a metal-metal cleavage. However, computational modeling suggested an alternate mechanism that could be more energetically favorable. Rather than a metal-metal cleavage as the initial step, we proposed a photoactivated carbonyl dissociation. To support this proposition, we performed time resolved …

Zeros Of A Family Of Complex-Valued Harmonic Rational Functions, Alexander Lee

Theses and Dissertations

The Fundamental Theorem of Algebra is a useful tool in determining the number of zeros of complex-valued polynomials and rational functions. It does not, however, apply to complex-valued harmonic polynomials and rational functions generally. In this thesis, we determine behaviors of the family of complex-valued harmonic functions $f_{c}(z) = z^{n} + \frac{c}{\overline{z}^{k}} - 1$ that defy intuition for analytic polynomials. We first determine the sum of the orders of zeros by using the harmonic analogue of Rouch\'e's Theorem. We then determine useful geometry of the critical curve and its image in order to count winding numbers by applying the harmonic …

An Imaging Mass Spectrometry Investigation Into The N-Linked Glycosylation Landscape Of Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma And The Development Of Associated Tools For Enhanced Glycan Separation And Characterization, Colin Mcdowell

MUSC Theses and Dissertations

The severity of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is largely attributed to a failure to detect the disease before metastatic spread has occurred. CA19-9, a carbohydrate biomarker, is used clinically to surveille disease progression, but due to specificity challenges is not suitable for early discovery. As CA19-9 and other prospective markers are glycan epitopes, there is great clinical interest in understanding the glycobiology of pancreatic cancer. Unfortunately, few studies have been able to link glycosylation changes directly to pancreatic tumors and instead have focused on peripheral glycan alterations in the serum of PDAC patients. To address this gap in our understanding, …