Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Quantitative Analysis Of Xylene Mixtures Using A Handheld Raman Spectrometer, Lauren Reilly

Honors College Theses

No abstract provided.

A Critical Review Of Current Approaches And Practices In Computing Ethics Education, Sophia Farquhar

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Recent scandals caused by the results of negligent, malicious, or shortsighted software development practices highlight the need for software developers to consider the ethical implications of their work. Computing ethics has historically been a marginalized area within computing disciplines, so educators in these disciplines do not have a common background for teaching the topic. Computing ethics education, although often a required part of coursework, can vary widely in the method of implementation from university to university.

In this report I summarize the insights I gained from interviewing four educators from three different institutions on their pedagogical approaches to computing ethics. …

Does It Take Three To Dance The Tango? Organizational Design, Triadic Structures And Boundary Spanning Across Subunits, Stefano Tasselli, Alberto Caimo

Articles

In this paper, we investigate the processes of boundary spanning across subunits within organizational networks. We hypothesize that patterns of advice across organizational subunits are explained by different triadic mechanisms depending on the organizational design of the intra-organizational network. In organizational networks characterized by flat hierarchy, we found triadic cyclic closure to be positively associated to boundary spanning across subunits; but when the network reflects an organizational structure with formal hierarchical differentiation among members, then we found triadic transitive closure to be associated to boundary spanning across subunits. We test these predictions in two empirical studies consisting of two organizational …

Application Of Boolean Logic To Natural Language Complexity In Political Discourse, Austin Taing

Theses and Dissertations--Computer Science

Press releases serve as a major influence on public opinion of a politician, since they are a primary means of communicating with the public and directing discussion. Thus, the public’s ability to digest them is an important factor for politicians to consider. This study employs several well-studied measures of linguistic complexity and proposes a new one to examine whether politicians change their language to become more or less difficult to parse in different situations. This study uses 27,500 press releases from the US Senate between 2004–2008 and examines election cycles and natural disasters, namely hurricanes, as situations where politicians’ language …

Speech Interfaces And Pilot Performance: A Meta-Analysis, Kenneth A. Ward

International Journal of Aviation, Aeronautics, and Aerospace

As the aviation industry modernizes, new technology and interfaces must support growing aircraft complexity without increasing pilot workload. Natural language processing presents just such a simple and intuitive interface, yet the performance implications for use by pilots remain unknown. A meta-analysis was conducted to understand performance effects of using speech and voice interfaces in a series of pilot task analogs. The inclusion criteria selected studies that involved participants performing a demanding primary task, such as driving, while interacting with a vehicle system to enter numbers, dial radios, or enter a navigation destination. Compared to manual system interfaces, voice interfaces reduced …

A Note From The Executive Editor, Yolander Youngblood

Pursue: Undergraduate Research Journal

No abstract provided.

Academy Presidents And Institutional Members List, Academy Editors

Journal of the Arkansas Academy of Science

No abstract provided.

Table Of Contents, Academy Editors

Journal of the Arkansas Academy of Science

No abstract provided.

Business Meeting Report (Secretary's And Treasurer's Report), Academy Editors

Journal of the Arkansas Academy of Science

No abstract provided.

Journal Acknowledgments And Editorial Board, Academy Editors

Journal of the Arkansas Academy of Science

No abstract provided.

Evaluating The Impact Of Fine Particulate Matter Pollution Standards On Mortality Rates In The Southeastern United States, Lauren Wice

MPA/MPP/MPFM Capstone Projects

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) continuously monitors six criteria pollutants that are known to have impacts on public health and welfare. One of these pollutants, fine particulate matter, or PM_2.5 (which includes particles that are smaller than 2.5 micrometers in diameter), is easily inhalable and can enter the lining of the lungs and the bloodstream, posing a great risk to human health. Standards for allowable concentrations of PM_2.5 were amended in 1997, 2006, and again in 2012, becoming increasingly stringent each time. According to the EPA, health organizations, and other research studies, these particles can specifically contribute to …

Transfer Learning Approach To Multiclass Classification Of Child Facial Expressions, Megan A. Witherow, Manar D. Samad, Khan M. Iftekharuddin

Electrical & Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

The classification of facial expression has been extensively studied using adult facial images which are not appropriate ground truths for classifying facial expressions in children. The state-of-the-art deep learning approaches have been successful in the classification of facial expressions in adults. A deep learning model may be better able to learn the subtle but important features underlying child facial expressions and improve upon the performance of traditional machine learning and feature extraction methods. However, unlike adult data, only a limited number of ground truth images exist for training and validating models for child facial expression classification and there is a …

Measuring Trace Element Concentrations In Artiodactyl Cannonbones Using Portable X-Ray Fluorescence, Joshua L. Henderson

All Master's Theses

Artiodactyl bones are the most common faunal remains found in Washington prehistoric archaeology sites, but they are often too fragmented to accurately identify a family, genus, or species. Traditional faunal analysis can only organize unidentifiable bone fragments into size class, and chemical methods often require the destruction of bone samples. In this thesis research, I tested a new, nondestructive faunal analysis technique using portable X-ray fluorescence (pXRF) to measure trace element concentrations in comparative collection and archaeological bone samples. Using cannonbones from five different artiodactyl species, I collected trace element data from 50 comparative collection specimens and 18 archaeological specimens …

Holocene Fire History Reconstruction Of A Mid-Evaluation Mixed-Conifer Forest In The Eastern Cascades, Washington, Zoe Rushton

All Master's Theses

Fire histories of mid-elevation mixed-conifer forests (MEMC) are uncommon, particularly in the eastern Cascades of Washington. As a result, fire regimes and the effects of 20th century fire suppression in these forests are not well understood. In the summer of 2014 a 7.80 meter-long sediment core was extracted from Long Lake, located approximately 45 km west of Yakima, WA, which exists in a grand fir-dominated mixed-conifer forest. Fire activity for the Long Lake watershed was reconstructed using macroscopic charcoal analysis and pollen analysis was used to reconstruct vegetation change through time. Charcoal results show low fire activity in the early …

Holocene Periods Of Aggradation And Incision, Hanson Creek, Washington, Levi Earl Windingstad

All Master's Theses

The causes and timing of cycles of aggradation and incision in the Hanson Creek drainage in central Washington provide insight into changes in channel morphology and paleoenvironment within the region over the last 8000 years. Stratigraphically and spatially coincident archaeological evidence reveals information related to human occupation during the latter half of the epoch. Using LiDAR imagery and field surveys, recent processes such as degree of modern channel incision, accumulation of valley floor sediment, channel morphology and gradient were evaluated. The spatial distribution of these channel characteristics was assessed in relation to proximal landforms such as colluvial deposits, basalt outcrops, …

Bridging Act-R And Project Malmo, Developing Models Of Behavior In Complex Environments, David M. Schwartz

Honors Theses

Cognitive architectures such as ACT-R provide a system for simulating the mind and human behavior. On their own they model decision making of an isolated agent. However, applying a cognitive architecture to a complex environment yields more interesting results about how people make decisions in more realistic scenarios. Furthermore, cognitive architectures enable researchers to study human behavior in dangerous tasks which cannot be tested because they would harm participants. Nonetheless, these architectures aren’t commonly applied to such environments as they don’t come with one. It is left to the researcher to develop a task environment for their model. The difficulty …

Wellness Paradigms In Predicting Stress And Burnout Among Beginning Expatriate Teachers, Kimala Proctor

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Research indicates that the current teacher shortage is in part due to stress and burnout. A topic that has not been examined is beginning expatriate English medium teachers (EMTs) with 5 years or less of teaching experience in the United Arab Emirates and the relationship between using individualized, self-initiated wellness paradigms and stress, job burnout, and intent to leave the teaching profession. The transactional model of stress and coping, Maslach's multidimensional theory of burnout, and the health promotion model were used to evaluate the moderating effects of the EMTs' burnout and stress levels on their wellness and intent to leave. …

Probabilistic Algorithms, Lean Methodology Techniques, And Cell Optimization Results, Michael Mccurrey

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

There is a significant technology deficiency within the U.S. manufacturing industry compared to other countries. To adequately compete in the global market, lean manufacturing organizations in the United States need to look beyond their traditional methods of evaluating their processes to optimize their assembly cells for efficiency. Utilizing the task-technology fit theory this quantitative correlational study examined the relationships among software using probabilistic algorithms, lean methodology techniques, and manufacturer cell optimization results. Participants consisted of individuals performing the role of the systems analyst within a manufacturing organization using lean methodologies in the Southwestern United States. Data were collected from 118 …

Nidus Idearum. Scilogs, Vii: Superluminal Physics - Second Edition, Florentin Smarandache

Branch Mathematics and Statistics Faculty and Staff Publications

My lab[oratory] is a virtual facility with non-controlled conditions in which I mostly perform scientific meditation and chats: a nest of ideas (nidus idearum, in Latin). I called the jottings herein scilogs (truncations of the words scientific, and gr. Λόγος – appealing rather to its original meanings "ground", "opinion", "expectation"), combining the welly of both science and informal (via internet) talks (in English, French, and Romanian). * In this seventh book of scilogs collected from my nest of ideas, one may find new and old questions and solutions, referring to different scientific topics – email messages to research colleagues, or …

Does The Emission Trading System Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions & Coal Consumption And Lead To An Increase In Renewable Energy? – Evidence From Oecd Member Countries, Pilmu Ryu

MPA/MPP/MPFM Capstone Projects

The Emission Trading System (ETS) on greenhouse gas (GHG) is a climate change policy well-known as a market-based mitigation mechanism. However, policymakers have faced strong opposition of many stakeholders and failed to persuade them in the process to introduce the ETS. Objective evidence on ETS impact not only provides information to policymakers but also may help alleviate controversy between stakeholders and policymakers. Also, empirical results on ETS will be able to contribute to the theoretical economic study of cap-and-trade. In this context, this research aims at empirical analyses of ETS impact with regard to GHG emissions, coal consumption, and renewable …

Best Practices To Encourage Landfill Diversion In Waste Management Programs, Sondra Abruzzo

Scripps Senior Theses

Waste generation in the United States is at an all time high. Over half of the country’s waste goes to landfill, yet 70 percent of this waste can be recycled or composted. Since landfills pose one of the largest manmade threats to the environment, sustainable waste management strategies should focus on landfill diversion. A successful waste recovery program needs to engage the public, and ensure individuals participate correctly in available waste management systems. This paper sheds light on effective education and awareness strategies used to encourage participation in local waste management systems and promote landfill diversion. By highlighting successful programs …

Climate Change As A Hazard In Emergency Management, Christen Swayer

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

This project will provide a basic overview of hazards, a scientific overview of climate change, examine evidence used to document climate change, investigate how the public and private sectors are impacted by climate change, and determine if states are preparing for this hazard. Sources such as the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the National Weather Service (NWS), and Climate Impact Lab will be consulted to determine if it would be beneficial to implement changes to prepare for the worsening effects of climate change. The methodology for this project will include quantitative climate data for temperature extremes and trends, hurricanes, …

Effects On Perception And Accuracy Of Live Putting When Leaving The Flagstick In The Hole, Danielle Nicholson

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

The purpose of this study was to investigate the preferences of golfers and how those preferences affected their putting. This study involved participants who were golfers with a four-handicap or better taking a survey of their preferences of having the flagstick in and out and then assessing their putting from various distances with the flagstick in and out. The researcher measured the distance of the golf ball away from the hole after it had finished rolling. Then, t-tests were used to compare the data with the flagstick in and flagstick out to determine if there is a significant difference. The …

Offshore Wind Farms And Maritime Navigational Risks, Syed Raza Ali Mehdi

World Maritime University Ph.D. Dissertations

The offshore wind energy sector (OWE) has experienced significant growth in the last few decades. Since the inception of the very first offshore wind farm (OWF) – Vindeby – in 1991, there have been major improvements in materials, structures, aerodynamics, hydrodynamics technologies, as well as substantial developments in installation, operations, maintenance and decommissioning strategies. These advances have led to a rapid increase in the numbers and sizes of both offshore winds turbines (OWTs) and OWFs, and driven down the cost of OWE generation. With further improvements imminent, and increasing societal popularity, the strong evolution of the OWE sector is predicted …

Community-Centered Sustainable Conservation And Ecotourism Planning In The Bossou Forest Reserve, Guinea, West Africa, Destina Samani

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Ecotourism management has evolved over the years towards responsible conservation of the natural environment, sustaining the well-being of local people, enriching personal experiences and increasing environmental awareness. The development of a forest reserve is characteristic of the management–visitor–host community interface and the attendant competing interests in the face of new challenges, ideas and theories. In particular, host community participation in the conservation of the forest space tends to breakdown under weak ecotourism management, partly evident by the imbalanced exploitation of ecosystem services resulting in wildlife and society’s inability to cope effectively with the changes (Walker et al., 2016).

The Bossou …

Utilization Of Various Methods And A Landsat Ndvi/Google Earth Engine Product For Classifying Irrigated Land Cover, Andrew Nemecek

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Methods for classifying irrigated land cover are often complex and not quickly reproducible. Further, moderate resolution time-series datasets have been consistently utilized to produce irrigated land cover products over the past decade, and the body of irrigation classification literature contains no examples of subclassification of irrigated land cover by irrigation method. Creation of geospatial irrigated land cover products with higher resolution datasets could improve reliability, and subclassification of irrigation by method could provide better information for hydrologists and climatologists attempting to model the role of irrigation in the surface-ground water cycle and the water-energy balance. This study summarizes a simple, …

Examining Partisan Advantage In Congressional Maps Using Simulations Based On Election Data, Zachary James Morgan

Online Theses and Dissertations

Partisan gerrymandering has been and will continue to be a topic of interest in the coming years. States will soon begin their redistricting process following the 2020 Census. We introduce a method of simulating Congressional elections which provides a new way of examining and visualizing the votes-to-seats relationship for a state Congressional map using past election data. We are able to build upon Mira Bernstein's method of uniformly simulating elections by injecting a data-driven component of variation into the simulations. Additionally, we are able to directly evaluate the accuracy of our simulations using a type of cross-validation. We compare our …

Prison Siting In Appalachia: Carceral Expansion, Neoliberalism, And Environmental Harm, Macey Logan Hall

Online Theses and Dissertations

Since 1991, 14 state and federal prisons have been built in Appalachia with a recent proposal for a federal prison to be constructed in Letcher County, KY. Contradicting the narrative that Appalachia remains separated from the national economy, the ills of carceral growth are apparent throughout the region. This study examines the proposal to build a federal prison in Letcher County, KY. The purpose of this study is to gain further insight into the impact that the carceral state, including its promise of economic development, has on environmental harm and land exploitation in the region. The proposed federal prison would …

Compound-Specific Isotope Analysis Of Amino Acids In Biological Tissues: Applications In Forensic Entomology, Food Authentication And Soft-Biometrics In Humans, Mayara Patricia Viana De Matos

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

In this work we demonstrate the power of compound-specific isotope analysis (CSIA) to analyze proteinaceous biological materials in three distinct forensic applications, including: 1) linking necrophagous blow flies in different life stages to their primary carrion diet; 2) identifying the harvesting area of oysters for food authentication purposes; and 3) the ability to predict biometric traits about humans from their hair.

In the first application, we measured the amino-acid-level fractionation that occurs at each major life stage of Calliphora vicina (Robineau-Desvoidy) (Diptera: Calliphoridae) blow flies. Adult blow flies oviposited on raw pork muscle, beef muscle, or chicken liver. Larvae, pupae …

An Assessment Of Farmer Participation In The United States Department Of Agriculture, Natural Resources Conservation Services’ Conservation Technical Assistance Program In West Virginia, Matt D. Oliver

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Food and fiber production on America’s farmlands have a major influence on the environment, therefore, soil and water conservation practices are critical. NRCS has provided no-fee technical assistance for nearly 100 years through the Conservation Technical Assistance (CTA) program. The CTA program is essential because it provides technical knowledge directly to farmers for planning and implementing conservation practices that are proven to benefit environmental health and on-farm production. CTA program funds support NRCS staff and training and are thereby the local service delivery vehicle for all NRCS programs. However, in recent years, funding for CTA has remained relatively constant while …