Digital Commons Network^™

Latinos In Massachusetts: Chelsea, Phillip Granberry, Vishakha Agarwal

Gastón Institute Publications

Chelsea is home to an estimated 26,794 Latinos according to the 2015-2019 American Community Survey. They represent two-thirds (67%) of the city’s population. Only Lawrence, which is 81% Latino, has a larger share of its population Latino than Chelsea does. Whites are the next largest ethno-racial group with 21% of the population. Blacks and Asians each make up less than 5% of city’s population. The Latino share in Chelsea is also larger than Latinos' statewide share, which is 11%.

Latinos In Massachusetts: Lawrence, Phillip Granberry, Vishakha Agarwal

Gastón Institute Publications

Lawrence, Massachusetts is a city of 79,942 residents, of whom 64,463 or 81% are Latino according to the 2015-2019 American Community Survey. While Boston has a larger Latino population, Lawrence has the largest share of Latino residents of any city or town in Massachusetts. The second largest group in the city is Non-Latino Whites, who make up 15% of the population. Blacks and Asians account for 2% each, while the “other” group makes up 1% of the city’s population. The Latino share in Lawrence is significantly larger than Latinos' statewide share, which is 11%.

Latinos In Massachusetts: Lynn, Phillip Granberry, Vishakha Agarwal

Gastón Institute Publications

As the largest city in Essex County, Lynn’s population in the 2015-2019 American Community Survey is 93,743. The city is home to an estimated 40,095 Latinos, who are the largest ethno-racial group and make up 43% of the city’s population. Whites are the second largest population (36%), while the city has smaller Black (11%), Asian (7%), and Other (3%) populations.

Latinos In Massachusetts: Springfield, Phillip Granberry, Vishakha Agarwal

Gastón Institute Publications

Springfield, the third largest city in Massachusetts, has 69,301 Latinos according to the 2015-2019 American Community Survey. They represent 45% of the city's population. Whites are the second largest ethno-racial group (31%), while Blacks (19%) and Asians (3%) are the other ethno-racial group with a sizable presence. The Latino share in Springfield is also larger than Latinos' statewide share, which is 11%.

Latinos In Massachusetts: Worcester, Phillip Granberry, Vishakha Agarwal

Gastón Institute Publications

Worcester, the second largest city in Massachusetts, is home to an estimated 40,510 Latinos, who make up 22% of the city’s population. Whites constitute the largest ethno-racial group (55%), while Blacks (12%) and Asians (7%) are the other ethno-racial group in the city. The Latino share in Worcester is larger than Latinos' statewide share, which is 11%.

Kansas Speaks Fall 2021 Statewide Public Opinion Survey, Brett Zollinger Ph.D., Jian Sun Ph.D., Michael Walker M.S., Marisa M. Johnson M.B.A.

Docking Institute of Public Affairs

The 2021 Kansas Speaks fall survey was conducted from December 4 to December 17, 2021. A panel of 523 adult residents of Kansas age 18 and older were surveyed online to assess their attitudes and opinions regarding various issues of interest to Kansas citizens.

Effects Of Nitrogen Management And Cultivar On Strawberry Production Under Disease Pressure, Kamille A. Garcia-Brucher

Master's Theses

Effects of nitrogen management and cultivar on strawberry production under disease pressure

Kamille Garcia-Brucher

California strawberry growers face increasing regulatory pressures to manage nitrogen (N) applications in their production system. Standard practice in the California strawberry industry is to apply a synthetic pre-plant controlled release fertilizer (CRF) to ensure the crop has sufficient N during winter establishment. Some research from the UC Cooperative Extension suggests this practice is not efficient at delivering N to the crop since most of the N is released from CRF before strawberry crop N uptake is significant. Another concern for California strawberry growers is loss …

Our Divided House, Gerard V. Bradley

Journal Articles

CRISIS OF THE TWO CONSTITUTIONS: THE RISE, DECLINE, AND RECOVERY OF AMERICAN GREATNESS
by Charles R. Kesler
ENCOUNTER, 488 PAGES, $34.99

Lincoln is a recurring focus of Charles Kesler's learned and timely new book, Crisis of the Two Constitutions. Kesler turns to him because Lincoln possessed a profound understanding of the American Constitution and because Lincoln spoke more eloquently than anyone else ever has about the central theme of the book: the fact that the United States was founded on universal principles of justice “applicable to all men and all times."

Longleaf Pine Restoration In The South Carolina Sandhills Wiregrass Gap, Jacob W. Murray

All Theses

Longleaf pine restoration has been a topic of great concern and intrigue in the southeast and has taken on new fervor in recent decades as restoration methods continue to develop. Many landowners and forest managers are now pursuing ecological forestry and restoration ecology in great numbers as a new form of land management. However, niche regions can often be overlooked, as is the case with the Carolina Sandhills Wiregrass Gap, an area devoid of wiregrass and one that is on the outskirt regions of the historical longleaf pine range. Field studies were conducted pre- and post-harvest during two growing seasons …

Practical Wisdom As An Adaptive Algorithm For Leadership: Integrating Eastern And Western Perspectives To Navigate Complexity And Uncertainty, Mai P. Trinh, Elizabeth A. Castillo

Management Faculty Publications

In this paper, we integrate Eastern and Western perspectives of practical wisdom to answer the question, how can practical wisdom transfer across cultural boundaries in a world of increasing interconnection? We describe key properties of practical wisdom in early Western and Eastern schools of thoughts and explain how the concept of practical wisdom in ancient philosophy aligns with modern-day complex system science. We identify seven qualities of complex adaptive systems as a universal pattern that underlies both Eastern and Western perspectives. From these qualities, we develop an integrated conceptual framework of practical wisdom as factors both internal and external to …

Cooperative Perception For Social Driving In Connected Vehicle Traffic, Daniel Yoon

All Dissertations

The development of autonomous vehicle technology has moved to the center of automotive research in recent decades. In the foreseeable future, road vehicles at all levels of automation and connectivity will be required to operate safely in a hybrid traffic where human operated vehicles (HOVs) and fully and semi-autonomous vehicles (AVs) coexist. Having an accurate and reliable perception of the road is an important requirement for achieving this objective. This dissertation addresses some of the associated challenges via developing a human-like social driver model and devising a decentralized cooperative perception framework.

A human-like driver model can aid the development of …

Approachable Error Bounded Lossy Compression, Robert Raymond Underwood

All Dissertations

Compression is commonly used in HPC applications to move and store data. Traditional lossless compression, however, does not provide adequate compression of floating point data often found in scientific codes. Recently, researchers and scientists have turned to lossy compression techniques that approximate the original data rather than reproduce it in order to achieve desired levels of compression. Typical lossy compressors do not bound the errors introduced into the data, leading to the development of error bounded lossy compressors (EBLC). These tools provide the desired levels of compression as mathematical guarantees on the errors introduced. However, the current state of EBLC …

Developing Design And Analysis Framework For Hybrid Mechanical-Digital Control Of Soft Robots: From Mechanics-Based Motion Sequencing To Physical Reservoir Computing, Priyanka B. Bhovad

All Dissertations

The recent advances in the field of soft robotics have made autonomous soft robots working in unstructured dynamic environments a close reality. These soft robots can potentially collaborate with humans without causing any harm, they can handle fragile objects safely, perform delicate surgeries inside body, etc. In our research we focus on origami based compliant mechanisms, that can be used as soft robotic skeleton. Origami mechanisms are inherently compliant, lightweight, compact, and possess unique mechanical properties such as– multi-stability, nonlinear dynamics, etc. Researchers have shown that multi-stable mechanisms have applications in motion-sequencing applications. Additionally, the nonlinear dynamic properties of origami …

Embracing The Role Of Educator: The Experiences Of Housing And Residence Life Staff In Implementing A Curriculum Model, Eric Thomas Pernotto

All Dissertations

Since their emergence at colleges and universities, student affairs and housing and residence life (HRL) administrators have continuously evolved their role on campus. Foundational documents challenged administrators to engage in student learning to support institutions’ missions and bridge the gap with academic affairs.

The emergence of the Curriculum Model (CM) provides a framework for professionals in HRL to this work. The CM extends learning beyond the classroom and formalizes it by developing learning goals and outcomes, educational strategies, facilitation guides, and learning assessment with rubrics. To effectively implement a CM, practitioners must acknowledge their roles as educators and seek intentional …

Selected Topics In Network Optimization: Aligning Binary Decision Diagrams For A Facility Location Problem And A Search Method For Dynamic Shortest Path Interdiction, Alexey Bochkarev

All Dissertations

This work deals with three different combinatorial optimization problems: minimizing the total size of a pair of binary decision diagrams (BDDs) under a certain structural property, a variant of the facility location problem, and a dynamic version of the Shortest-Path Interdiction (DSPI) problem. However, these problems all have the following core idea in common: They all stem from representing an optimization problem as a decision diagram. We begin from cases in which such a diagram representation of reasonable size might exist, but finding a small diagram is difficult to achieve. The first problem develops a heuristic for enforcing a structural …

Investigation Of Scalar Mixing In Turbulent Jets And Flames, Mengyuan Yuan

All Dissertations

The scalar-scalar-gradient filtered joint density function (FJDF) and its transport equation for large eddy simulation (LES) of turbulent combustion is studied experimentally. Measurements are made in the fully developed region of an axisymmetric turbulent jet (with jet Reynolds number UjDj/ν = 40000) using an array consisting of three X-wires and three resistance-wire temperature probes. Filtering in the cross-stream and streamwise directions are realized by using the array and by invoking Taylor’s hypothesis, respectively. The FJDF and the terms in the transport equation are analyzed using their means conditional on the filtered scalar and the subgrid-scale (SGS) scalar variance. The FJDF …

A Critical Analysis Of The Discourse Of Culturally Responsive Curriculum Within South Carolina’S Secondary U.S. History And Constitution Standards, James L. Goude

All Dissertations

This research study explored the presence of implicit racial bias in South Carolina curriculum policy within its content standards for U.S. history and the Constitution. Curriculum policy discourse flows through the statewide public school system from the legislature, through district offices, and into classrooms. That discourse guides classroom teachers on what the state legislated as essential knowledge of U.S. history. Teachers make instructional choices based on state and district guidance documents that may affect the performance of Black students on South Carolina’s U.S. History and Constitution End-of-Course Exam (USHC-EOC). This study describes the educational policy discourse from macro-documents, meso- documents …

Secure Data Collection And Analysis In Smart Health Monitoring, Pei Huang

All Dissertations

Smart health monitoring uses real-time monitored data to support diagnosis, treatment, and health decision-making in modern smart healthcare systems and benefit our daily life. The accurate health monitoring and prompt transmission of health data are facilitated by the ever-evolving on-body sensors, wireless communication technologies, and wireless sensing techniques. Although the users have witnessed the convenience of smart health monitoring, severe privacy and security concerns on the valuable and sensitive collected data come along with the merit. The data collection, transmission, and analysis are vulnerable to various attacks, e.g., eavesdropping, due to the open nature of wireless media, the resource constraints …

Effects Of Food-Grade Nonionic Surfactants On The Iron-Catalyzed Oxidative Stability Of Lycopene In Oil-In-Water Emulsions, Jeffrey Allen Bowles

All Dissertations

In this research a novel method for the rapid, direct measurement of oxidative lycopene degradation in oil-in-water emulsions via colorimetric means was developed. This analytical method was used to conduct experiments monitoring the degradation of lycopene-containing oil-in-water emulsions of decane spontaneously formed in the presence of nonionic surfactants (Span and Tween) of different tail lengths and molar ratios. The structure and ratio of these nonionic surfactants was manipulated to probe the mechanism of lycopene stabilization when iron-catalyzed oxidation was the main pathway of degradation, as controlled by pH and oil phase selection. The effect of addition of chloride salts with …

An Investigation Of Engineering Majors: Graduates' Enrollment Timelines And First-Year Students' Perceptions And Exploration, Baker A. Martin

All Dissertations

The selection of a specific engineering major can substantially impact a student’s undergraduate experience and can also impact future career opportunities. This work is divided into complementary studies of Enrollment, Perception, and Exploration. Together, the three studies seek to answer six research questions related to (i) when and where students enroll in their graduation majors in different matriculation models, (ii) how students perceive both engineering in general and the engineering majors, and (iii) the impacts of a major exploration course on confidence in major choice, major changes, and fit and satisfaction in engineering in general and in the engineering majors. …

“I Thought I Was Going To War”: Experiences Of Health-Care Workers During The Covid-19 Pandemic – An Exploration Of Projectcope, Smith F. Heavner

All Dissertations

The COVID-19 pandemic continues to strain health-care systems throughout the world. While early reports compared its impacts to other contemporary disease outbreaks (e.g., SARS and MERS), it quickly became apparent that COVID-19 would dwarf these contemporary crises, escalating to a scale more on par with the 1918 influenza outbreak. This disaster will have unprecedented effects on health-care workers, among whom burnout was already a serious concern. Burnout and linked phenomena moral distress, compassion fatigue, and secondary trauma are associated with increased turnover and intent to leave health-care professions, decreased quality of care delivered to patients, and poor mental and physical …

Methods And Applications Of Synthetic Data Generation, Jason Anderson

All Dissertations

The advent of data mining and machine learning has highlighted the value of large and varied sources of data, while increasing the demand for synthetic data captures the structural and statistical characteristics of the original data without revealing personal or proprietary information contained in the original dataset.

In this dissertation, we use examples from original research to show that, using appropriate models and input parameters, synthetic data that mimics the characteristics of real data can be generated with sufficient rate and quality to address the volume, structural complexity, and statistical variation requirements of research and development of digital information processing …

The Causal Effects Of Growing Up In A Two-Parent Household: Evidence From The Psid On Schooling, Earnings, And Labor Force Participation, Bob Shihao Wen

All Dissertations

The children who grew up in a two-parent household earn more than the other children reared in non-intact parental families. The causal effects of growing up in a two-parent household can be identified using two specification strategies. First, I include the parental household income and educational attainment in the model, along with the child’s demographic characteristics (age, gender, race, and state of residence), to disentangle the childhood family structure effect from the other parental influence. Second, I use the average state divorce rate over the child’s first 16 years of childhood and the childhood years of exposure to the no-fault …

Impact Of Interventions On Student Performance Among Eighth Graders In Algebra 1, Tiffany Osborne

All Dissertations

Educational leaders and practitioners face challenges in South Carolina schools, but through improvement science processes (Bryk, Gomez, Grunow, & LeMahieu, 2015), they can collectively develop solutions which directly address those issues. In this Participatory Action Research (PAR) study, I partnered with participants in ongoing Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) cycles (Bryk, et al., 2015) to improve student outcomes. I triangulated multiple data points and corroborated findings with students’ own perceptions to provide evidence that students can achieve in eighth grade Algebra 1 when given the opportunity to enroll in the course and when afforded appropriate ongoing academic interventions that foster conceptual understanding, self-efficacy, …

Seismic Performance Assessment Of Building Contents: Monetary Losses And Injuries, Sereen Majdalaweyh

All Dissertations

Building contents include all the components that are not attached to the building which the owners place after the construction phase, such as furniture, electrical equipment, glassware, and other personal items. Loss and damage assessment of building contents proved to be challenging in performance-based earthquake engineering frameworks because of the data sparsity. Damages to building contents during an earthquake not only cause monetary losses; tumbling and over-toppling of heavy building contents could result in injuries and even deaths of occupants. While major advancements have been made in performance-based earthquake engineering; however, the focus is mainly on damages and collapse risk …

Mechanical Interfacial Locking And Multiscale Modeling Of Reinforced Thermoplastic Composites For Structural Applications, Anmol Kothari

All Dissertations

The ever-growing pressure of reducing the adverse impact of transportation systems on environment has pushed industries towards fuel-efficient and sustainable solutions. While several approaches have been used to improve fuel efficiency, the light-weighting of structural components has proven broadly effective. In this regard, reinforced thermoplastic composites (RTPC), owing to their high recyclability, higher impact strength and fast cycle times, have become competitive candidates at an industrial scale. However, to implement RTPC toward large scale structural applications several challenges pertaining to material design and manufacturing effects need to be addressed. To this end, a computational study is carried out to address …

Coupled Thermal Mechanical Analysis Methodology For Thermal Performance Evaluation And Failure Mode Identification Of Thermal Barrier Coatings For Heavy Duty Diesel Engines, Sean Moser

All Dissertations

Consumer demand and government regulation, as well as the Department of Energy’s SuperTruck program has motivated extraordinary effort to maximize the heavy-duty diesel engine’s thermal efficiency. Thermal barrier coatings (TBCs) provide an avenue for increasing the thermal efficiency of the mixing controlled combustion (MCC) process through the reduction of heat transfer losses. The myriad of previous studies presents conflicting conclusions, both in the merit of TBCs for cycle improvement, and also for coating durability and potential adverse effects from coating failure. While the most recent studies with thin thermal barrier coatings (~100-250 µm) have shown a majority of positive cycle …

Influencing The Inflammatory Response Through Multi-Scale Geometry, Antibiotic Release, And Fluid Management In A Textile-Based Biomaterial Wound Dressing, Elizabeth Gianino

All Dissertations

The total population of diagnosed and undiagnosed diabetes mellitus in the United states is expected to rise by 54% between the years of 2015 and 2030 contributing to $200 billion in health care expense. The exponential rise in common diabetic wounds, such as diabetic foot ulcers, puts a large population at risk for complications such as infection, amputation, and even death. Peripheral neuropathy leading to late diagnoses, patient non-compliance, and lack of holistic treatment options all contribute to complications with the incidence of new ulcer formation after treatment reaching 50%. This work explores the design, development, and in vitro evaluation …

Investigation And Characterization Of New Optically Stimulated Luminescence (Osl) Dosimetric Materials, Linyu Pan

All Dissertations

Optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dosimeters have attracted increasing attention due to advantages over TL dosimeters, including no thermal quenching and higher sensitivity. Nevertheless, currently, there are only two commercially available OSL dosimeters, BeO and Al₂O₃:C. An OSL dosimeter requires low effective atomic number (Z_eff < 16), at least one type of recombination center and one type of trap, and UV~blue emission. In this dissertation, motivated by the search of new OSL dosimetric materials, a systematic investigation of alumina (Z_eff = 11.3) and magnesium aluminate spinel (Z_eff = 11.2) based materials was performed in terms of the engineering of the recombination centers and electronic traps. Microstructural characterization was executed by means of X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Raman spectroscopy. Luminescence was characterized under X-ray excitation (radioluminescence; RL) at ambient and …

Reinforcement Learning Based Design Methodology For Building Performance: A Case Of Building Facades With Kinetic Elements, Sida Dai

All Dissertations

With the increasing complexity of design problems in building performance, traditional design methods are difficult to meet the growing demand of designers. For example, in building facades with kinetic elements, traditional design methods are facing many constraints due to the complex design variables and requirements. This study applied reinforcement learning(RL) to building performance optimization and proposed a novel design methodology. This design methodology consists of two parts: (1) a reinforcement learning-based design system; (2) an improved design process based on reinforcement learning.

The construction of the design methodology started from the analysis of design algorithms. Next, the design system was …