Digital Commons Network^™

Voices Of The "Served": Community Resident Perspectives On International Service-Learning In Peru., Adam C. Stieglitz

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study is to capture and share community resident perspectives on international service-learning (ISL). Community resident voice is largely underrepresented in ISL scholarship and practice. Conversely, research on student outcomes is ubiquitous, which generally makes student benefit a predominant consideration in ISL program design. Consequently, scholars have criticized ISL programs for being inherently extractive and even an embodiment of modern-day colonialism. This study aims to address this critique by offering a robust representation of community residents’ perspectives for how to responsibly design ISL programs. This study used action research methodology to capture community resident voices who participate …

Classifying The 2022 Status Of Tsuga Canadensis (Eastern Hemlock) Along The Kentucky Portion Of The Pine Mountain Wildlands Corridor., Grace M. Embree

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The invasion of the Hemlock Woolly Adelgid (HWA) (Adelges tsugae) has posed a continual threat in the United States to the Eastern Hemlock (Tsuga canadensis) trees since the 1950s. HWA feed on eastern hemlock needles, reducing the amount of healthy photosynthesizing vegetative area. The use of satellite imagery has been instrumental in identifying areas of eastern hemlock presence. Satellite platforms like Landsat and AVIRIS are commonly used for identification, classification, and mapping of eastern hemlock. Sentinel-2 imagery was released in 2015 for free access. It has a finer spatial grain of with the majority of the …

Teaching Multicultural Psychology As A Cultural Competence Intervention: An Empirical Evaluation Of Course Components, Elizabeth Tish Hicks

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Previous research has shown that a semester-long multicultural psychology course can effectively increase students’ cultural competence-related attitudes when students complete the class in-person and online. Cultural competence refers to the knowledge, awareness, and skills required to appreciate, recognize, and effectively work with members of other cultural groups. This dissertation examined several components of a multicultural psychology course: ethical grading, skill development, and intergroup contact. The first paper discussed techniques used to minimize grading bias and examined whether cultural competence shifts impacted grading. Students’ cultural competence scores did not relate to or predict their grades in the course, which supported the …

Relationships Between Middle School Students' Adaptive Reasoning When Creating Learner-Generated Drawings And Partner Talk During Inquiry-Based Mathematical Tasks, Angela M. Frabasilio

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Adaptive reasoning is one of five components students use to develop mathematical expertise and become mathematically proficient. When students adapt their reasoning they are logically thinking about the mathematical relationships between concepts and adapting their thinking to solve problems. Three Act Math Tasks are popular math problems used in schools in which students engage in adaptive reasoning. These types of problems are beneficial to students because they engage students in inquiry-based learning, a kind of learning where students work to pose questions, interpret data, design ways to solve the problem and present their solutions. Little is known about how students …

Speed Of Small Droplets On Repellent Surfaces, Addison J. Litton

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

A droplet of fluid can slide or roll down an angled surface if the droplet doesn’t stick to the plate (e.g., droplets on glass). The most common surface to allow for such this motion are hydrophobic surfaces. One example is a freshly waxed car where the rain beads up and rolls off. Another example is if a pan is heated to a high enough temperature then when small amounts of water are added the droplet will skitter around on the surface for a moment before boiling away. This high temperature effect where droplets rest on a vapor layer underneath cause …

Dynamic System Discovery With Recursive Physics-Informed Neural Networks, Jarrod Mau

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

This thesis presents a novel method, recursive Physics informed neural network, to learn the right hand side of differential equations. The neural network takes in data, then trains, and then acts as a proxy for the differential equation which can be used for modeling. We show the theoretical superiority of the recursive approach. We also use computer simulations to demonstrate the proved properties.

Parent Work-Family Balance And Adolescent Psychosocial Well-Being During The Covid-19 Shutdown, Shailey Woodward

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Parents who work have many responsibilities to fulfill. They may encounter frustration and exhaustion, which can impact how well they parent. Experiences such as financial strain and the COVID-19 shutdown may further impact parenting. At the same time, adolescents are establishing identities and need attentive parents to help them develop healthy psychosocial well-being. Using Erikson’s (1968) psychosocial theory of development as a backdrop, the purpose of this study was to observe the relationships between parent work-family balance, parenting satisfaction, and adolescent psychosocial well-being within the context of financial stress and the COVID-19 shutdown. I found that parent and adolescent perceptions …

Teacher Home Visits: Changes In Perceptions Of Key Stakeholders, Kevin R. Thomas

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Teacher home visits have been shown to improve student attendance, academics and to reduce behavior issues. Three groups are involved: the student, the teacher, and the family (or parent). This research focused on determining if and how the teacher home visit changes the perspectives, expectations, and relationships of these three groups. A survey followed by interviews of some of the students, parents, and teachers was used. The surveys and the interviews were evaluated. Results indicated that perceptions and relationships between stakeholders were improved. Due to low participation rates, results must be interpreted with caution. With these considerations in mind, I …

Sustain Water Conservation Behaviors Using Nonparametric Ranking And Social Marketing, Mahmudur Rahman Aveek

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Circulation of water use feedback and conservation messaging are strategies implemented to reduce water demand on a short-term (seasonal) basis. Often considered a less impactful strategy than other tactics such as price increments and usage restrictions, authorities mostly use feedback in informational campaigns with a focus to apprise users about their water use. Such conservation programs have had limited success that has been attributed to the fact that the information provided with the feedback campaigns was generic and did not motivate users enough to sustain their water-saving behaviors. However, the advent of disaggregation technologies that can provide appliance-wise water use …

Cuo Nanoparticles Solubility As Influenced By Soil Pore Water, Native Microorganisms, And Wheat Rhizosphere Chemistry In A Sand Matrix, Dakota Sparks

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Nanoparticles (NPs) are particles less than 100 nm (~4 millionths of an inch) in a direction. NPs, due to their small size, are used in a variety of products, such as silver (Ag) NPs as an antimicrobial in clothes. Copper Oxide (CuO) NPs are used in electronics as semiconductors and other fields as antimicrobials and purposefully or accidentally end up in the environment. Copper (Cu) is a necessary nutrient for plants, but at higher amounts is toxic to plants and beneficial soil microbes.

In order to understand how the CuO NPs interacts with plants, wheat seedlings were grown in sand …

Evaluating The Effectiveness Of A Task Analysis Data Sheet Protocol In Training Educators To Use The You/Me Game During Direct Instruction Reading Groups, Mckenzie Niebergall

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Teachers often struggle with classroom management during academic lessons. Self-adapted efforts to improve classroom management are often not founded on researched behavioral principles. These struggles and efforts impact student behavioral and academic outcomes. The You/Me game is a game included in many Direct Instruction curricula, specially sequenced curricula that encourage positive classroom management and the gaining of academic skills, as a means to reward students for correct academic performance. This study examined the effectiveness of providing a sheet of specific written instructions and allowing for clarifying questions in training four general educators to implement the You/Me Game for classroom management …

Highly Variable Rainfall-Runoff Patterns Across Burned Mountainous Watersheds In The Colorado River Headwaters, Haley Anne Canham

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Wildfires can contribute to enhanced flooding, erosion, debris flows, sediment transport, and water quality changes that impact downstream infrastructure, water users, and aquatic habitat. With increasing wildfire risk in the western U.S. due to a changing climate, understanding post-wildfire rainfall-runoff patterns and controls is critical for continued water resources security. To improve understanding of post-wildfire rainfall-runoff patterns and controls, we developed a transparent, repeatable analysis framework to collect precipitation and streamflow data, identify paired rainfall-runoff events, and analyze these events to evaluate post-wildfire rainfall-runoff patterns and controls. To automate the rainfall-runoff event identification, the Rainfall-Runoff Event Detection and Identification (RREDI) …

Changes In Healthy Eating And Physical Activity Behaviors Of Adult Participants In Create Better Health's Education (Snap-Ed) Program, Kami Bullock

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The purpose of this study was to compare the effects of delivery method on the nutrition, food resource management (FRM), and physical activity behavior of participants enrolled in either Create Better Health’s in-person or online courses. The pre-survey and post-survey included data on nutrition, FRM, and physical activity behaviors. The researcher analyzed preexisting data from 138 SNAP-eligible adults who participated in Create Better Health’s online and in-person courses.

Results showed similar improvements in most of the nutrition and physical activity behaviors among those who took the CBH courses online or in-person. The online course showed statistically higher scores for four …

An Introduction To Combinatorics Via Cayley's Theorem, Jaylee Willis

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

In this paper, we explore some of the methods that are often used to solve combinatorial problems by proving Cayley’s theorem on trees in multiple ways. The intended audience of this paper is undergraduate and graduate mathematics students with little to no experience in combinatorics. This paper could also be used as a supplementary text for an undergraduate combinatorics course.

Masculinity, Affirmations, Belongingness, And Resiliency In Male Adolescents: Effects On School Engagement, Kelsey Burt

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

This study focused on male adolescent students within 7^th and 8^th grade and how endorsement of masculine stereotypes impacts their school engagement and feelings of belonging. The study also examines how peers maintain masculine conformity and how individual resiliency change outcomes. This research is based on two main theories, inclusive masculinity and social learning theory. These theories describe how behaviors are largely learned from the social environment and maintained due to reinforcement or punishment. There were 127 adolescent males who participated in this study and were recruited through an online survey system. Results of the study show that …

Spatial-Temporal Responses Of Cow Elk To Targeted And Non-Targeted Hunting Risk, Randall Mcbride

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Predation is one of the most important interspecies interactions that affect a wildlife population. Predator-prey interactions may cause species to shift their behavior, such as changing the use of their habitat in both space and time, based on their ability to assess risk. Wildlife population responses to predation stresses have been studied in the past, but individuals' responses to these stresses have not been studied in fine detail. For this study, cow elk were collared with GPS collars, and hunters carried hand-held GPS units. GPS locations were taken at 10-minute intervals for both cow elk and hunters during the hunting …

An Investigation Of Active Learning On Students' Understanding Of Infinite Series Convergence, Zachary Coverstone

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

Many students encounter infinite series for the first time as part of their single-variable calculus coursework. As part of this initial engagement with infinite series convergence, students grapple with infinity in ways that they haven't had to before. For instance, the fact that summing infinitely many terms sometimes yields a finite value, but at other times diverges, poses significant conceptual challenges.

I recently designed and implemented a curriculum for second-semester calculus centered in doing problems to help students develop ideas surrounding infinite series convergence, rather than using direct instruction. The unit design was patterned after a workshop at the Park …

Association Between Visuomotor Skills And The Effects Of Stroboscopic Vision On Depth Jump Performance, Riley Welch

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

The reactive strength index (RSI) is a popularized method of evaluating depth jump performance. Performance in anticipation of ground impact is influenced by the proprioceptive, vestibular, and visuomotor systems through multisensory integration. The contribution of vision to depth jump performance has been studied through use of stroboscopic goggles, but no study has evaluated which visuomotor skills may be a predictor for DJ performance. The purpose of this investigation was to evaluate the association between visuomotor skills and the effects of stroboscopic vision on DJ performance. Participants consisted of 9 female and 13 male college aged adults. DJ performance was evaluated …

North Logan Active Transportation Plan, Lloyd Sutton

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

The North Logan Active Transportation Plan provides a small, Utah community with background information, data, public involvement summaries, and recommendations regarding active transportation planning. The plan focuses on providing transportation infrastructure recommendations for use by bicycles, pedestrians, and other forms of active, non-motorized transport.

Metabolite Damage And Damage Control In A Minimal Genome, Drago Haas, Antje M. Thamm, Jiayi Sun, Lili Huang, Lijie Sun, Guillaume A.W. Beaudoin, Kim S. Wise, Claudia Lerma-Ortiz, Steven D. Bruner, Marian Breuer, Zaida Luthey-Schulten, Jiusheng Lin, Mark A. Wilson, Greg Brown, Alexander F. Yakunin, Inna Kurilyak, Jacob Folz, Oliver Fiehn, John I. Glass, Andrew D. Hanson, Christopher S. Henry, Valérie De Crécy-Lagard

Department of Biochemistry: Faculty Publications

Analysis of the genes retained in the minimized Mycoplasma JCVI-Syn3A genome established that systems that repair or preempt metabolite damage are essential to life. Several genes known to have such functions were identified and experimentally validated, including 5-formyltetrahydrofolate cycloligase, coenzyme A (CoA) disulfide reductase, and certain hydrolases. Furthermore, we discovered that an enigmatic YqeK hydrolase domain fused to NadD has a novel proofreading function in NAD synthesis and could double as a MutT-like sanitizing enzyme for the nucleotide pool. Finally, we combined metabolomics and cheminformatics approaches to extend the core metabolic map of JCVI-Syn3A to include promiscuous enzymatic reactions and …

An Analysis Of Public Comments On The Implementation Of The Ngss In Kentucky., Matthew David Trzaskus

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Feedback has been a highly effective means to enact change. In the classroom teachers provide feedback to students concerning their performance, how they compare to the learning goal, and what students need to achieve those goals. For teachers, they utilize feedback from students to examine content focus and instructional practice in order to reflect and make positive changes. In this study, feedback is once again provided in order to enact change. Kentucky stakeholders, mainly teachers, in science education offered feedback about the implementation of the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS). In their feedback they highlighted the challenges that occurred after …

Stability Analysis Of Ionically And Electronically Conductors In Energy Applications., Tanner D. Whatley

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The increasing need of electrical power around the world creates the search for sustainable energy to become a major stride in the manufacturing industry. The pursuit of energy storage systems being better, longer lasting, lighter, and cost effective have been a priority for companies, but one of the most crucial attributes in a battery should be its safety without the reduction in performance. For energy conversion and storage devices, such as solar cells and batteries, many important components are sensitive to air or moisture, therefore, the stability studies are important. This thesis focuses on two representative materials: hydrogenated carbon nanosheets …

The Effect Of Typewriting Vs. Handwriting Lecture Notes On Learning: A Systematic Review And Meta-Analysis., Timothy Schaun Lau

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study is a systematic review and meta-analysis of studies examining the effect of note-taking modality during lecture, that is, taking notes by hand using pen and paper vs. taking notes using a keyboard and computer, on learning among secondary and postsecondary students. I begin with a review of the literature and theoretical introduction to the theories and terms used. From a theoretical standpoint, there are strong reasons to believe that taking notes by hand might offer recall benefits relative to taking notes using a computer and keyboard. At the same time, I point out that one problem, which I …

The Evolution Of Aid Protection: A Future Informed By Afghanistan, Tabitha Babcock

Capstone Collection

The need for protection during complex crises is unremitting. Studies spanning the past decade prove humanitarian aid workers are at great risk while working within conflict zones and insecure contexts. This influx is due to the proliferation of politicization of humanitarianism, donor involvement, and lack of communication between involved parties. This exploratory study uses longitudinal data collection by way of semi-structured qualitative interviews. The research examined how humanitarian workers’ need for protection, while providing aid to Afghanistan, will change the future of humanitarian response.

It was concluded that although in the past decade, on-site actors felt they had enough physical …

‘Race’ And Academic Performance In International Higher Education: Black Africans In The U.K., Solomon Zewolde

Journal of Comparative & International Higher Education

U.K. higher education research routinely pinpoints the racialized nature of academic performance, but it often fails to even consider if racism contributes to such a pervasive racial or ethnic disparity. While research in the area often focuses on comparing the attainment of home white and ethnic minority students, little attention is given to the experiences of black African international students (BAIS), particularly in U.K. higher education. Using semi-structured qualitative interviews, this study documents how “race” shapes academic performance and achievement by exploring the experiences of 21 BAIS undergraduates studying in ten universities in England. Factors identified, inter alia, include racism …

Buffering Or Perpetuating: The Perceived Role Of Academic Institutions In Chinese International Doctoral Students’ Double Pandemics Experiences In The United States

Journal of Comparative & International Higher Education

No abstract provided.

The Impact Of Covid-19 Pandemic On Motherscholars: A Comparative Case Study Of United States And Australian Higher Education Women Faculty Role Strain

Journal of Comparative & International Higher Education

No abstract provided.

Full Issue 14(3b) 2022, Rosalind Latiner Raby

Journal of Comparative & International Higher Education

No abstract provided.

Women Of The Wolf, Rosemary Sekora

Department of English: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

This is a creative thesis that introduces the novel Women of the Wolf and discusses the writer’s influences and research progress. Themes within the novel will include women relationships, cult culture, religious influences, and Native American (mis)representation. The sample included is the first ten pages from the novel.

Advisor: Timothy Schaffert

Translating Particulate Hexavalent Chromium-Induced Chromosome Instability From Human Lung Cells To Experimental Animals, Human Lung Tumors And Whale Cells., Haiyan Lu

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Lung cancer is a major human health problem. While smoking is the most well-known cause of lung cancer, people who never smoked develop the disease. Understanding how non-tobacco environmental carcinogens cause lung cancer is key to combating this disease. Hexavalent chromium [Cr(VI)] is a well-established human lung carcinogen, but its carcinogenic mechanism is uncertain. Chromosome instability (CIN) is a hallmark of lung cancer and a major factor in Cr(VI)-induced lung cancer. Studies in human lung cells show Cr(VI) induces DNA double strand breaks and suppresses homologous recombination (HR) repair by targeting RAD51, resulting in CIN. We translated these outcomes to …