Digital Commons Network^™

Evaluation Of Changes In Behavior And Use Of Pou Systems In The Paso Del Norte Region, Arahim Alejandro Zuniga Herrera

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

According to the world health organization around 2.2 billion people in the world lack access to proper water resources with around 500,000 people dying yearly due to contaminated water ingestion. Colonias are unorganized settlements found on the border between the United States and Mexico and are characterized by poor infrastructure and lack of resources such as water. In the past years, several campaigns have been made to provide water filtration systems to residents in the Paso del Norte colonias, located in the border area of Chihuahua, West Texas, and Southern New Mexico.In the time between the summers of 2018 and …

God Damn, Robi Mahan

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

God Damn is a poetic collection that delves into the complex relationship between a daughter and her father, who has recently suffered from a stroke. As her father grapples with Aphasia, a neurological disorder which has rendered him with a uniquely limited vocabulary, the author must confront her beliefs about life, death, and the great beyond. The collection recounts the authors childhood with her father, an outspoken atheist from a small town, and how the ideals he has taught her influence the way she navigates life with a man who has lost his ability to speak.

Measurement Of Radon Gas At Kilbourne Hole, Michel Eduardo Luna Lucero

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Several radon studies have reported a possible correlation of the gas emanation with faults and seismic activity in the area, but few studies have been conducted in seismically inactive areas. Features such as the Kilbourne Hole in New Mexico, a maar volcano formed by an interaction between magma and water, can reveal important information about connection between radon concentration levels and structural geology.

The purpose of this thesis is to determine the radon concentration levels in and around the crater of the Kilbourne Hole. The results are compared with geological, gravity and magnetic surveys to have a better understanding of …

Translingual Practices For The Development Of Latinx Teacher Candidates: A Pedagogy For The Border, Alcione N. Ostorga

Bilingual and Literacy Studies Faculty Publications

This article explores the application of translingual pedagogies within a course on the development of bilingualism for Latinx bilingual teacher candidates (BTCs) in the U.S.-Mexico borderlands. Using a self-study methodology, it examines the application of translanguaging pedagogies for Latinx BTCs, and their evolving language ideologies. The participants were mostly emergent bilinguals (EBs) whose native Spanish language development was negatively impacted by hegemonic educational practices in the local K-12 schools. Therefore, while the first aim of my pedagogical practices was to promote learning of the content of the course, a second aim was to promote the development of academic Spanish language …

Relationship Between Mothers’/Caregivers’ Reported Learning Difficulty And Internalizing Symptoms (Anxiety And Depression) Of Children Aged 5–17 Years In Ghana, Queen Angela Norman, Nutifafa Eugene Yaw Dey, Kenneth Owusu Ansah, Francis Arthur-Holmes, Henry Ofori Duah, Pascal Agbadi

College of Nursing Faculty Research and Publications

Studies have reported different factors associated with anxiety and depression among children and adolescents. However, studies examining the relationship between learning difficulties and internalizing symptoms of Ghanaian children is scarce. The only study available found that 152 students with learning difficulties who visited a psychology clinic for psychological assessment had high levels of stress and anxiety (Asare & Danquah, 2016). While the study provided preliminary evidence of the relationship between learning difficulties and internalizing symptoms, it had some methodological challenges. For instance, the study used a relatively smaller sample size and subsampled children in Accra. Our study used a nationally …

Heavy Sediment Deposition In The Yangtze Estuary, Following Initial Impoundment Of Three Gorges Dam, Boyuan Zhu, Gexuanzi Luo, Yao Yue, Enhang Liang, Alistair G.L. Borthwick, Yitian Li

School of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics

Although the initial impoundment of the Three Gorges Dam in 2003 caused a significant reduction in fluvial sediment load, heavy sediment deposition occurred within the Yangtze Estuary during 2002-2009. To gain a clear recognition of this phenomenon, the present study examines the roles of fluvial water and sediment discharges, coastal dynamics and estuarine engineering projects playing in the Yangtze estuarine erosion-deposition process. Results show that runoff discharge is the dominant factor, performing as that the alternate high and low runoff events in the Yangtze basin are associated with the cycles of morphological erosion and deposition in the Yangtze Estuary. Accordingly, …

Enhancing Permanency In Children And Families (Epic): A Child Welfare Intervention For Parental Substance Abuse, Bridget Freisthler, Kathryn Maguire-Jack, Susan Yoon, Elinam Dellor, Jennifer Price Wolf

Faculty Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity

Background: Across Ohio, parental substance abuse has contributed to a marked increase in the number of children in foster care. Children exposed to parental substance use have a higher likelihood of physical abuse and neglect, and consequently a variety of physical, psychological and cognitive problems. The Enhancing Permanency in Children and Families (EPIC) program is a collaborative effort between the Ohio State University College of Social Work, two county offices of the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services, two juvenile courts and local behavioral health agencies. The goal of EPIC is to use three evidence-based and evidence-informed practices to …

Potential Microplastic Release From Beached Fishing Gear In Great Britain's Region Of Highest Fishing Litter Density, Luka Seamus Wright, Imogen Ellen Napper, Richard C. Thompson

School of Biological and Marine Sciences

While land-based sources of marine plastic pollution have gained widespread attention, marine-based sources are less extensively investigated. Here, we provide the first in-depth description of abandoned, lost or otherwise discarded fishing gear (ALDFG) on northern and southern beaches of the English Southwest Peninsula, Great Britain's region of highest ALDFG density. Three distinct categories were recorded: twisted rope (0.28 ± 0.14 m−1, 17%), braided rope (0.56 ± 0.28 m−1, 33%) and filament (0.84 ± 0.41 m−1, 50%), which likely correspond to fishing rope, net and line. Estimating the disintegration of ALDFG from length and filament number suggests that it has the …

Soil Health Monitoring And Management In Corn And Soybean Agroecosystems Of The Midwestern U.S., Bradley S. Crookston

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Soil health is a concept and condition of the soil where measurable soil properties represent the capacity of a soil fulfilling its intended use, such as producing crops, without constraint to its agro-ecological quality. Soil health assessments are used to estimate the health of a soil by assessing soil biological, chemical, and physical attributes, called soil health indicators, and scoring them on a scale, usually 0 to 100, to guide soil and crop management. However, there are few large-scale analyses of soil health assessment scores and their relationships with crop yield. Understanding how soil health assessments relate to crop yield …

Tractor Connections For Killing Tensors And Their Generalizations, Benjamin D. Shaw

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

We create new symbolic software tools for the analysis of Killing tensors. Central to our work is the construction of the tractor connection defined on the tractor bundle, which allows one to obtain information about the space of Killing tensors without solving the Killing equations–an approach termed the tractor approach. We give a new application of the tractor approach which allows one to more easily check explicitly for linear independence of a given set of Killing tensors. We develop software to implement such methods in the case of rank 2 Killing tensors; similarly, we develop software to implement analogous methods …

Geometrization Of Perfect Fluids, Scalar Fields, And (2+1)-Dimensional Electromagnetic Fields, Dionisios Sotirios Krongos

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The Rainich equations provide a purely geometrical interpretation of matter in terms of the gravitational field it generates. All this takes place within the geometrical formulation of gravity provided by Einstein’s General Theory of Relativity. Rainich-type conditions giving spacetime "goemetrizations" are reviewed and extended. Three types of matter are considered: perfect fluids, scalar fields, and electromagnetic fields.

The Effects Of Explicitly Teaching Summarization Skills On The Reading Comprehension Of Students With Specific Learning Disabilities, Sherri Lay

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Students with reading disabilities struggle with comprehending what they are reading and the necessary strategies to help them understand what they read. Summarizing what was read is a proven strategy for improving reading comprehension. This project examined one strategy for writing summaries called Generating Interactions between Schemata and Text or GIST. Participants included two 7^th grade students and one 8^th grade student who were in Special Education classroom for reading services. The results of this study were inconclusive. Participants showed growth in their summarizing skills, but the growth could not be adequately attributed to the GIST strategy.

Characterizing Relational Values To Inform Message-Framing At The Boa Ogoi Historical Site, Cole G. Stocker

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

In an increasingly polarized political climate–particularly in the U.S.– environmental issues such as climate change and its effects on the environment have become hot-button partisan talking points resulting in further division. This has led to research on ways to communicate science which does not further inflame political tensions, but rather reinforces and validates the audience’s values. Science communication research provides the foundation for my case study, which focuses on characterizing the environmental values and worldviews of land managers residing and working near the Boa Ogoi Historical Site in southern Idaho. The Northwest Band of Shoshone Nation (NWBSN) is in the …

Analyzing Student Writing: A Multiple Case Study Exploring Kindergarten Teacher Knowledge Of Early Writing Development, Nanette Mills Watson

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The developmental nature of early writing warrants targeted instruction in writing concepts and skills in kindergarten classrooms. Given the complexity of writing and early writing development, research into kindergarten teacher knowledge of early writing development and how this influences instructional practices is appropriate.

To conduct this research, data was collected from an online questionnaire, a semistructured interview, and student writing sample analysis tasks of five kindergarten teachers. Qualitative data analysis was conducted and provided descriptions of individual teachers’ instructional practices for writing and an in-depth description of the proposed teacher-student interactions from the student writing sample analysis tasks. Findings revealed …

Factors Associated With Financial Stressors, Financial Stress, And Financial Behaviors, Paula Andrea Lopez Alvarado

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

As of the end of the first quarter of 2021, overall consumer debt reached $14.64 trillion. The more debt a family has, the higher the reported levels of financial stress the family reports. Using data from the 2018 National Financial Capability Study (NFCS), the purpose of this study was to examine the associations among financial stressors, financial stress, and positive and negative financial behaviors. The findings of this study suggested that Black individuals had the highest levels of financial stressors, financial stress, and negative and positive financial behaviors among four racial/ethnic groups. The findings also suggested that high financial stress …

Host Plant Use, Phenology, And Biological Control Of The Brown Marmorated Stink Bug (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae; Halymorpha Halys) In Northern Utah, Mark Cody Holthouse

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The invasive brown marmorated stink bug, Halyomorpha halys (Stål), has become a significant agricultural and urban nuisance pest in North America, causing millions of dollars of damage to specialty fruit and vegetable crops over the past two decades. This pest uses over 170 host plant species in North America and is difficult to control with most conventional insecticides. Following the establishment of H. halys in Utah in 2012, this dissertation explores the plant host species, seasonal development, and biological control agents found in the unique climate conditions of the Intermountain West. Chapter II documents important plant species utilized by each …

Intelligent Traffic Management: From Practical Stochastic Path Planning To Reinforcement Learning Based City-Wide Traffic Optimization, Kamilia Ahmadi

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

This research focuses on intelligent traffic management including stochastic path planning and city scale traffic optimization. Stochastic path planning focuses on finding paths when edge weights are not fixed and change depending on the time of day/week. Then we focus on minimizing the running time of the overall procedure at query time utilizing precomputation and approximation. The city graph is partitioned into smaller groups of nodes and represented by its exemplar. In query time, source and destination pairs are connected to their respective exemplars and the path between those exemplars is found. After this, we move toward minimizing the city …

Predictive Models Of Post-Wildfire Debris Flow Volume And Grain Size Distribution In The Intermountain West, Sara Wall

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Post-fire debris flows represent the most erosive and potentially hazardous consequence associated with increasing wildfire severity. While an abundance of research has explored where they are likely to occur and their potential magnitude, investigations into understanding how they impact downstream resources are limited. Recent advancements are seeking to link predictive models together to be able to predict how erosion after wildfire may impact reservoirs and aquatic habitat downstream. However, there are two key missing pieces into our ability to examine watershed-scale impacts of post-fire erosion. These include having accurate predictions of how much sediment is likely to be deposited by …

Estimation Of High-Resolution Evapotranspiration In Heterogeneous Environments Using Drone-Based Remote Sensing, Ayman M. M. Nassar

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Evapotranspiration (ET) is a key element of hydrological cycle analysis, irrigation demand, and for better allocation of water resources in the ecosystem. For successful water resources management activities, precise estimate of ET is necessary. Although several attempts have been made to achieve that, variation in temporal and spatial scales constitutes a major challenge, particularly in heterogeneous canopy environments such as vineyards, orchards, and natural areas. The advent of remote sensing information from different platforms, particularly the small unmanned aerial systems (sUAS) technology with lightweight sensors allows users to capture high-resolution data faster than traditional methods, described …

Transformation Groups And The Method Of Darboux, Brandon P. Ashley

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

In the study of partial differential equations (PDE), one is often concerned as to whether or not explicit solutions can be obtained via various integration techniques. One such technique, known as the method of Darboux, has had particular success in solving nonlinear problems as demonstrated by the classical works of Goursat. Recently, Anderson, Fels, and Vassiliou provided a far-reaching generalization of Vessiot’s group-theoretic interpretation of the method of Darboux. This generalization allows for the characterization of Darboux integrable systems in terms of fundamental geometric invariants as well as the construction of Darboux integrable systems in general.

In this work, we …

Methods To Improve Our Understanding Of Aspen Regeneration And Aspen Distribution Across The Intermountain West, Robert Joseph Julius Bidner

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Quaking aspen (Populus tremuloides) is the dominant broadleaf tree and an ecologically important species at upper elevations in the Intermountain West. Recent large-scale forest mortality events have raised questions about how physiological and climatic factors influence aspen’s distribution across the western U.S. Aspen is particularly well-known for reproducing asexually from its root sprouts, leading to the formation of large clonal stands. In addition, as a wind-dispersed species, aspen sexual reproduction plays an important role in how it is distributed at a landscape scale. My research focuses on questions relating to both sexual and asexual reproduction of aspen.

My …

The Transition To Parenthood: Exploration Of Systemic Changes And Implications For Future Treatment, David B. Jenks

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The transition to parenthood is change that alters the very structure of the family system. Families who engage in this transition are often in need of assistance as they navigate and attempt to manage the changes and challenges that arise. The biopsychosocial-spiritual model is a modality that helps providers more holistically examine the biological, psychological, social and spiritual realms of life’s experiences. This model provides a valuable way to look at the transition to parenthood and understand some of the interactions taking place that may contribute to the development of challenges such as mental health concerns. The present dissertation was …

Essays Related To Water Transfer And Water Sharing: The Past And The Present, Arpita Nehra

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

This dissertation explores the impacts of resource procurement on economic growth and urbanization in a county through a historical case study, moving on to discuss the welfare impacts of resource-sharing in two regions. The first two essays explore the impact of the Owens Valley water transfer in the 1900s on the urban sprawl and the economic growth of Los Angeles. The main contribution that the first two essays make is to present an empirical analysis on the impact of procurement of resources on the economy. The third essay examines the welfare impacts of a proposed water sharing and development project. …

Intraspecific Variation In Prey Susceptibility Mediates The Consumptive Effect Of Predation: A Case Study Of Yellowstone Elk And Wolves, Lacy M. Smith

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The reintroduction of wolves (Canis lupus) to Yellowstone National Park starting in 1995 is an important case study for understanding the consequences of predation on a prey population. Simulation studies conducted prior to and shortly after wolf reintroduction predicted that wolf predation of elk (Cervus canadensis) would have a modest influence on elk abundance. Predation of elk by wolves has been well documented and elk have remained the primary prey for wolves despite a decline in elk abundance. I used two quantitative approaches to estimate the influence of wolf predation on adult female elk survival and …

Temperature Effect On The Mechanical Properties Of Steel Fiber Reinforced Ultra-High-Performance Concrete, Jenny Bernadette Gomes

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The contemporary innovation in concrete technology is ultra-high-performance concrete (UHPC). In this work, mechanical properties of UHPC are studied at ambient terrestrial temperature conditions. Specimens are prepared under laboratory environments maintaining the temperature of -25°C, -5°C, 15°C, 35°C, and 55°C. A freeze thaw chamber is utilized to condition the specimens at specified temperatures. Compressive strength, flexural strength, toughness, and modulus of elasticity are determined under varying temperature and steel fiber volume content. The results indicate that both temperature and steel fibers have effect on the mechanical properties of UHPC. The flexural and compressive strength show an opposite trend of strength …

Efficacy Of Professional Development Models In Dismantling Scientific Misconceptions, Tyler Hansen

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Scientific misconceptions held by educators are both common and well documented. As science education becomes more and more important to students, it is evident that there is a need to not only identify scientific misconceptions held by teachers as a means of bettering the education of students, but also determine effective methods of deconstructing them. Although studies have indicated that professional development can assuage the prevalence of misconceptions held by teachers, there is a dearth in the literature of what makes these professional developments effective. Therefore, this study investigated which models of professional development are most effective in dismantling misconceptions …

Management Strategies For Tomato Spotted Wilt Virus In Utah Tomatoes, Benjamin Scow

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Plant diseases are among the leading causes of tomato stand loss in the state of Utah. Viral plant diseases are often transferred from one plant to another by insect feeding. In Utah, one of the leading viruses that infects tomatoes is Tomato spotted wilt virus (TSWV) which is spread by thrips. The objectives of this study were as follows.

1. Determine the impact from reflective mulch and row covers on thrips population numbers.
2. Determine the effects of row covers on the TSWV infection rate.
3. Compare varietal response to thrip populations.

This 2-year study focused on the use of two different types …

A Parent Survey On Discrete Trial Teaching Versus Naturalistic Teaching And The Use Of Behavioral Terminology, Mckenzie Steele

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Children receiving special education are often exposed to a variety of learning strategies. Care providers may use an array of different strategies when describing therapeutic approaches to parents (including the use of technical or layman terminology), and research has indicated that the use of technical terminology may influence individuals’ perceptions of behavior therapy. This study examined the use of behavioral and layman terminology and video models to see if it affected parents’ preference between Discrete Trial Teaching, and Naturalistic Teaching. Participants were parents with children receiving special education services between the ages of 2-5 years old. Data were collected by …

Lithological And Geochemical Characterization Of Ramp Sediments And A Depositional Model Of The Ordovicain Garden City Formation, Northeastern Utah, Kenneth W. Kehoe

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The Ordovician Garden City Formation is a mostly marine limestone rock formation deposited in what is known today as the Northern Utah Basin in North America ~485.5 million years ago. Previous research on the Pogonip Group, a time equivalent rock formation located in the Ibex Basin south of the Northern Utah Basin, has identified nine cycles of sea-level fall and rise. However, these nine sea-level cycles have proven difficult to identify within the Garden City Formation due to the limited contrast between rock types within the rock formation. Previous research on the Garden City has approximated these sea-level cycles through …

Managing Summer Camps: A Study Of Culture And Practices At Environmentally Conscious Camps, Landis Wenger

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Supporting private landowners as they manage their land is essential to sustainability because sixty-one percent of land in the United States is privately owned and managed; therefore, it is crucial that we better understand the management practices implemented by private landowners and continue to development best management strategies. A significant portion of these land holders are summer camps. There are over 14,000 summer camps in America. Many summer camps already have cultures where they value their land and the ecosystems on their property; many have also sought to improve their land management practices as well. However, there is a lack …