bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Collaborative practices with the framework of a professional learning community: elementary principals' perceptions of their role
Authors:   , Allen Cheryl E.
Published: February 2023

The Director of Elementary Education, elementary principals, and elementary teachers offered information during a structured interview, surveys, and a focus group pertaining to collaboration. Within the context of this study, collaboration was defined as "a way of working with colleagues that is characterized by cooperation, mutual respect, and shared goals, involving sharing of information, coordinating actions, discussing what is working and what is not, and perpetually seeking input and feedback," (Edmondson, 2012, p. 54). This qualitative, bounded case study, conducted in a Midwestern suburban school district, provides an analysis of collaboration at the elementary school level with a focus on professional learning communities and the elementary principal's role. The purpose of this study was to discover perceptions of elementary principals' role in implementing collaborative processes through the framework of a professional learning community. Hord's (1997, 2008) framework for a professional learning community was the conceptual framework for this study. Open and axial coding were utilized throughout the qualitative data analysis process. Findings indicated prominent themes of facilitator, team builder, and strategic planner as the perceived role of the elementary principal in the implementation of collaborative practices and processes within a professional learning community. Additional findings indicated that each tenant of an effective professional learning community (Hord 1997, 2008) was equitably recognized by respondents across data collection modalities.
A multiple case study of the ensemble experiences of three collegiate brass instrumentalists with physical disabilities
Authors:   , Dorv� Carlot
Published: February 2023

This qualitative multiple case study was designed to investigate the experiences and the perceptions of three different collegiate brass instrumentalists with physical disabilities. I sought to discern the meaning of inclusion to students with disabilities and the state of current inclusive practices. I also sought to understand their challenges as collegiate brass instrumentalists with disabilities, their experiences and perceived reality in an educational setting with ensemble directors and other students, and the source of their motivation to persist in instrumental ensembles. This study was guided by two main research questions. The first main question was: (1) What are the perceptions of collegiate brass instrumentalists with physical disabilities regarding participation in instrumental large ensembles? The related sub-questions were: (a) What challenges do these students encounter? (b) What characterizes their interactions with peers, teachers, and family? The second main question was: (2) What influences collegiate brass instrumentalist students with physical disabilities to persist in instrumental ensembles? Data were collected through semi-structured interviews with eight participants which included three collegiate brass instrumentalists, three ensemble directors, and two parents. Participants were selected through purposive and snowball sampling procedures. Through the analysis of the narratives of the participants, the key themes that emerged across all three cases included: (a) open communication is key, (b) the importance of a sense of belonging in the ensemble, and (c) motivation comes from music-making through equal opportunity and personal connection.
The evolution and genetic basis of complex traits in Drosophila melanogaster
Authors:   , Elkins Z. Forrest
Published: February 2023

The current climate crisis, increasing habitat fragmentation, deforestation, the number of extreme weather events, contagious diseases, and more are major environmental stressors that threaten the survival of every species on Earth. It is necessary for organisms to evolve stress resistant traits and phenotypic plasticity to survive these catastrophic effects. To resist stress, organisms will need to invest some amount of energy, leading to trade-offs with other traits. In addition, organisms must develop behavioral adaptations to manage environmental stressors. Behaviors such as dispersal and migration, and stress-resistant traits such as starvation resistance, have evolved as a means of survival. While researchers have studied behavioral adaptations and stress-resistant traits, the genetic and evolutionary mechanisms and phenotypic plasticity of these traits are not fully known. For my dissertation research, I studied the genetic mechanisms and phenotypic plasticity of two traits: exploration behavior and starvation resistance, respectively, in evolved multiparent populations of D. melanogaster. I used a bulk-segregant analysis (BSA) approach using a multiparent population, the Drosophila Synthetic Population Resource (DSPR), to uncover the genetic basis of exploration tendency in D. melanogaster. I defined exploration as the tendency of female fruit flies to move from a starting chamber to a novel fly chamber through a narrow tube. To identify the source of genetic variability in exploration, I generated 17 pairs of "high exploration" and "low exploration" bulk segregant populations consisting of 40 - 100 female flies and performed whole genome pooled sequencing. I then compared allele frequency differences between these pools to identify regions of the genome implicated in exploration tendency. In my second chapter I studied starvation resistance in an experimentally evolved population of D. melanogaster. Our lab placed twelve replicate populations of D. melanogaster on three selection treatments: constant high nutritional diet (CHA), fluctuating nutritional diet (FA), and deteriorating nutritional diet (DA). These three treatments have been ongoing for over 50 generations. For my experiment, a duplicated set of flies from all replicates and treatments were placed on one of three diets for 10 days: high sugar, standard, and low yeast diets. After 22 days post-oviposition (p.o.), flies were placed on nutrition-less agar. Starvation resistance was measured as the time it takes for a fly to die starting the moment it is placed on nutrition-less agar. We link these phenotypic changes to variation in artificial selection pressure and environmental conditions. In my code appendix, I established a novel method of statistical error estimation due to variation in coverage in pooled sequencing experiments. Coverage is defined as the number of reads at a given location along the genome. Due to the law of large numbers, a higher sequencing coverage value leads to a more accurate allele estimation at that locus.
A qualitative study exploring barriers Black college students experience in utilizing mental health services at a predominantly white institution (PWI)
Authors:   , Franklin Anthony
Published: February 2023

The qualitative study explored factors that may influence black students' utilization of mental health services based on their lived experiences as Black students in a predominately white institution (PWI). The study implemented semi-structured interviews and focus groups with Eighteen students. The students participated in either a two-series interview process or a focus group that focused on the utilization of mental health services at a PWI. The study used an adapted Andersen behavioral model as the conceptual framework to guide the exploration of the utilization of mental health services for Black students. In the findings, six themes emerged as barriers that impacted the utilization of mental health services: Trust within Social Support System, Isolation Among the Campus Community, Limited Awareness of Mental Health Services, Limited Black Therapists on Campus, and Alternative Methods of Mental Health Services. The students discussed their social support while at a PWI and how it influenced mental health service usage. Also, the students discussed their experience within their community, as feeling isolated at a PWI caused students to feel less connected with the campus and services provided. The students also reported a limited number of Black therapists, which affected their confidence in being understood while using the mental health services on campus. The students' responses highlighted their perception of mental health services and how it led to alternative methods to meet their needs.
Feminist self-labeling and feminist identity development: exploring the experiences of college sorority women
Authors:   , Gale Leslie
Published: February 2023

In this study, I used feminist identity development as a theoretical framework to explore the experiences of 12 college sorority women. Participants shared stories from their college and early life, including the experiences they identified as the most influential to their growth and development. Five main themes of what influenced their feminist identity development emerged, including their sorority involvement. Findings indicate that a new model of feminist identity development is needed to encapsulate the complex identities and context of college women today, and that decisions around labeling as a feminist are complicated. Recommendations for practitioners and national sorority organizations are discussed and directions for future research are provided.
Three essays on higher education outcomes
Authors:   , Hoffman Heather
Published: February 2023

This dissertation consists of three chapters examining issues relevant to higher education outcomes. The first essay examines the impact of state merit-aid program adoption on the stock of human capital across rural and urban populations. Using data from the 1990 and 2000 Decennial Censuses and the 2008-2012 American Community Survey, I utilize a staggered difference-in-difference methodology that exploits the exogenous variation in the timing of program adoption to produce causal estimates. Program adoption reduces bachelor's degree holders in rural counties by 1.2 percentage points. The second essay measures the impact of honors college participation on collegiate outcomes at a large, public-land grant midwestern university by leveraging strict eligibility criteria using a fuzzy regression discontinuity design. For compliers near the threshold, honors participation increases first- and senior-year cumulative grade-point averages but has no statistically significant effect on persistence or graduation rates. The third essay is a descriptive analysis that measures the extent to which education-job mismatch and its consequences vary by degree field for Ph.D. recipients from a large, publicland grant midwestern university from 2011 to 2020. The study relies on a novel dataset compiled from publicly accessible sources online. Relative to other degree fields, engineering Ph.D. graduates were the most likely to work in occupations for which they were over-educated or outside of their field. There is also some evidence that mismatch may be positively correlated with occupation-level earnings.
Bayesian cusp regression and linear mixed model
Authors:   , Hou Jiayi
Published: February 2023

First of all, we introduce the Bayesian mixture way of solving the Cusp Catastrophe model, which is designed to deal with piece-wise continuous outcomes. Simulation and real data analysis show that the new method beats the old stochastic different equation solution of Cusp Catastrophe model. Next, we propose 7 Options to generalize Zellner's g-prior for model selection in linear mixed models with grouped covariates. We also demonstrate the close form of marginal likelihood and ways of computing the Bayes factors. The performance of the options are examined by numerical studies. Finally, we prove the consistency of Bayes Factors of our proposed priors in 2-way ANOVA model.
An analysis of the MSHSAA competitive balance policy of 2020: has equity been achieved?
Authors:   , Hull Alan
Published: February 2023

The proliferation of private schools' success in interscholastic athletics has led many state activities governing bodies to develop policies that help to ensure competitive balance (Johnson, Maxwell and Scott, 2019). The biggest single factor in interscholastic competitive balance is whether a high school is public or private (Cohen, 1997: Epstien, 2008: Johnson et al., 2015: Popke, 2012). Private and public schools have distinct differences that are paramount in the competitive balance problem. School boundary limitations, student recruitment, student body demographics, and tuition assistance are all pieces of the equation. In the State of Missouri, differences in public and private schools' postseason success are apparent in sports and activities. The purpose of this study was to examine proportions of non-MSIP schools (private) success in post season championships. Research implications and scholarly context were presented by looking at the available historical data. A majority of the statistical tests for the research questions revealed statistically nonsignificant differences in pre- and post-policy proportions of non-MSIP schools in the top-four of the state championship series. Two tests revealed a difference in proportion, men's track and field with a decrease in proportion and baseball with an increase in proportion. The null hypothesis is accepted in all cases except for baseball and men's track and field.
Acculturation and social capital of somali muslim women
Authors:   , Iftekhar Anadil
Published: February 2023

This study examines the social capital and acculturation of 20 Somali immigrant women who participate in a community garden in a small Minnesota town. Even though some of them did not enter the U.S. as refugees, all of the women had at some point been refugees. The study examines the women's acculturation using John Berry's framework for acculturation. Field notes and phenomenological interviews were employed to acquire the interview data. The study examined the 20 Somali women's acculturation patterns and factors that facilitated the process. It also looks into the significance of the neighborhood garden in their daily lives. The ladies built up their social capital within the Somali community through a variety of support networks and initiatives to preserve Somali culture while overcoming the language barrier. The Somali community's involvement in the community gardens served as another means of maintaining strong group bonds, but many women also found delight in the process of raising their own food. Though the growing season lasted about four months at most, the gardens were an integral part of the gardeners' daily routine. The fact that the Center for Minnesota Sustainability Project supervised the community garden plots and made them accessible and simple to grow food on contributed to their well-being. The separation trend was evident in the acculturation of the women. Many of the study's participants were older women who were grandmothers. They struggled when attempting to learn English. They preferred to remain in the Somali neighborhood. Even the mothers of K-12 students desired that their kids stay in the Somali community, barring special circumstances related to their careers. Language barriers, being ejected from their homes forcibly, and being thought of as outsiders were some of the causes. The gardens, on the other hand, were a location where they felt secure enough to be by themselves. The ladies had the freedom to create and be independent while in the gardens, which gave them agency. The gardens reminded them a bit of Somalia.
Perceptions of an international branch campus' impact on the Sustainable Development Goals in the Ivory Coast
Authors:   , Izquierdo Aguirre Mauricio
Published: February 2023

This qualitative and descriptive research examines the effect of international branch campuses (IBCs) on the achievement of four of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) via the lens of the University of Colombia (pseudonym) and the higher education system promoted through their IBC at the University of Ivory Coast (pseudonym). This research was conducted with the intention of determining whether or whether not these initiatives considerably enhance the quality of life for current students, faculty members, and alumni, in addition to the communities that are located in the surrounding areas. The data obtained from these university's websites and other sources were supplemented by firsthand accounts obtained by the researcher through the use of a questionnaire and interviews with members of the students, alumni, consultants, faculty of each institution, as well as the two presidents of the universities. This study acknowledged and investigated the positive effects that would result from incorporating South-South international collaboration activities into higher education institutions. It was also shown that IBCs could be able to assist underdeveloped nations in accomplishing some of the Sustainable Development Goals set out by the United Nations. This dissertation contributes to the existing body of knowledge by proposing potential areas for future research, such as the need to examine and analyze this South-South type of cooperation agreement to determine how the IBC partnership can assist these nations and the perceptions of four of the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals.
Development of a novel titanium thermal ionization cavity source for electromagnetic radioisotope separation of samarium and other lanthanide isotopes
Authors:   , Jeffries Bradley D.
Published: February 2023

An available supply of high specific activity radioisotopes was identified by the Department of Energy as a critical priority to the development and eventual deployment of next-generation medical diagnostic and cancer therapy tools. A radioisotope mass separator, located at the Missouri University Research Reactor (MURR) Center, was constructed to provide radioactive ion beams for the separation and production of high specific activity lanthanides used in radiopharmacology. A novel thermal ionization cavity (TIC) source capable of seamlessly integrating the irradiation of reactor produced targets with isotope separations was developed. Isotope separations of irradiated samples of samarium with low levels of radioactivity will be performed to assist in the design of an electromagnetic separator facility with commercial scale. To this end, experimental data has been acquired with a custom ionization source designed to operate inside of a constrained set of parameters. These experiments led to the first reported case of a lanthanide ion beam to have been produced from a TIC source constructed completely from titanium. Investigations of the working parameters driving the performance of the source are discussed. Initial experiments with samarium ion beams transmitted through the ion optics of the separator system are also discussed. This work demonstrates the applicability of titanium in the construction of a TIC source designed for separations of radioactive lanthanides.
Exploring body image at the intersection of racial, sort, and gender identities: giving voice to Black female athletes' experiences
Authors:   , Landgrebe Lindsey
Published: February 2023

A growing body of research has identified the duality of body image that female athletes experience, whereby they navigate multiple body ideals defined by both sport culture and the broader culture. This research often reflects the White female experience, limiting the understanding of the unique experiences of Black female athletes. The purpose of this qualitative study was to amplify the voices of Black female athletes. Objectification Theory (Roberts and Fredrickson, 1997) and Intersectionality Theory (Crenshaw, 1989) were used as a framework for this study to explore body image among Black female athletes while considering the intersection of gender, racial, and sport identities within Black culture, White culture, and sport culture. Eight current Division 1 collegiate female athletes who self-identified as Black completed a semi-structured interview protocol. Participants represented four different predominantly White institutions (PWI) in the Midwest and Southeast regions of the US. Consensual qualitative research (CQR; Hill, 2005) methodology was used to analyze the data and the following domains were identified: (a) Perceived Body Ideals and Social Influences; (b) Self-evaluation and Contextual Body Image; (c) Weight and Performance; (d) Objectification and Gendered Racism; (e) Identity; and (f) Protective Factors. The results of this study revealed Black female athletes navigate multiple conflicting body ideals and appearance expectations within sport culture, Black culture, and dominant culture. Additionally, body image is contextual, whereby participant's perceptions or evaluations of their bodies shifted as they navigated different spaces, racial groups, or cultural contexts. Participants described personal and vicarious experiences of gendered racial microaggressions, discrimination, and objectification both within the context of sport and outside of sport. Participants also described an association between muscularity and masculinity and the historical dehumanization and defeminization of Black female athletes. While muscularity appeared to threaten perceived femininity, participants engaged in behaviors to monitor and limit others' evaluations of their muscularity. Participants also appeared to be vulnerable to messaging from coaches related to weight loss and an emphasis on body fat percentage. Additionally, participants described regular DEXA scans to measure their body composition that were administered by their athletic departments, which contributed to increased body image distress, body monitoring, and disordered eating behaviors. Implications and directions for future studies exploring body image among Black identified female athletes are discussed.
A phenomenological study of how high school teachers experience, exhibit, and develop empathy
Authors:   , McManis-Ricker Kristen V.
Published: February 2023

This research addressed the need for qualitative research in teacher empathy and how teachers developed empathy. Data analysis of this phenomenological study revealed how high school teachers experienced, exhibited, and developed empathy towards students. Findings suggest that empathetic teachers view the purpose of education as a holistic approach in the development of the whole child and view students from an asset-based mindset with a student focus learning environment. Additionally, findings suggest that transformative interactions and experiences influence the development of teacher empathy.
Retention of undergraduate white male students at Missouri University of Science and Technology
Authors:   , Morris Rachel
Published: February 2023

At STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) focused higher education institutions, academics and retaining students are challenging. To uncover obstacles that prevent white male students, in STEM-focused programs, from retaining to their second year of college, a mixed methods approach using Astin's I-E-O model was used. A survey to students, interviews with advisors, and institutional data were utilized to understand the complexity of retaining students in their first year. Research, prior to this study, focused on particular cohorts of students and/or specific factors of retention. This study broadened the scope of identifying factors that can predict retention (both high school and college first term) and showed that retention is more complex than one factor. High school preparation, financial needs, sense of belonging, math placement, and first term academic outcomes all play a significant role in retaining students to their second year of college. The expectation from results of this study will assist STEM focused institutions in building predictive models that will increase retention of first year students.
The wise avenue
Authors:   , Netro Angela
Published: February 2023

My dissertation's creative portion is a short story cycle constructed around two organizing principles: a place and a protagonist group. The cycle's setting is Dundalk, Maryland, a predominately white, working-class suburb. My protagonist group is a matriarchal triad of grandmother, mother, and daughter. How these characters define and reflect both the institution of motherhood and the experience of mothering is of particular importance; therefore, my dissertation's critical introduction also focuses on maternal theory. This essay begins as a conversation with Jo Malin's text, The Voice of the Mother. Malin argues that -- via autobiography -- a dialogic conversation occurs between a daughter-writer and her biological mother. Disagreeing with Malin's thesis, I propose my own theoretical conceit, one inspired by work of Carolyn Heilbrun: what if, instead of a mother-daughter dyad, we look at nonfiction works via the lens of a triad, one composed of Daughter-Writer + Biological Mother + Literary Mother? By examining the potential dialogic triads found within three nonfiction works -- Alice Walker's In Search of Our Mothers' Gardens, Louise DeSalvo's "The Portrait of the Puttana as a Middle-Aged Woolf Scholar," and Rebecca Solnit's The Faraway Nearby -- I conclude that when daughter-writers pair the ideologies learned from their mothers (ones often steeped in patriarchal motherhood) with those communicated by their "lit moms," the result seems to be not only a re-seeing of the biological mother but also a re-evaluation of who can mother and how this mothering can empower. In this way, my essay provides an example of how scholarship on motherhood can circumvent the gender essentialism that so often haunts writing about mothers.
The effects of weather classification on regression-based downscaling of daily temperature extrema in the United States
Authors:   , Pallardy Quinn
Published: February 2023

The focus of this dissertation was on the role played by weather classification in regression-based downscaling of daily temperature extrema. Three closely related studies were conducted, each using a different criterion for weather classification. The primary objective of all these studies was to evaluate changes in downscaling model performance as meteorological properties of the training periods were varied. This objective was of interest due to potential improvements in downscaling performance when accounting for non-static relationships between predictors and predictands. The first study used the time of day of the temperature extremum as the weather classification, while the third study used the direction of the wind as the weather classification. The second study used temperature as the weather classification, with a focus on possible consequences for downscaling in warmer conditions that were not present in the training conditions. Results from all three studies indicated that downscaling performance had the potential to be affected by the weather conditions seen in the training periods.
Design of low-power RF energy harvester for IoT sensors
Authors:   , Parvin Dilruba
Published: February 2023

Rapid technological advancement in CMOS technologies has resulted in increased deployment of low-power Internet-of-Things (IoT) devices. As batteries, used to power-up these devices, suffer from limited lifespan, powering up numerous devices have become a major concern. Radio frequency (RF) is ubiquitous in the surroundings from which energy can be harvested and utilized to increase battery lifetime. Even for low-power sensors, RF energy harvesters can be utilized as primary power sources. However, power density of RF signals is very low and therefore building blocks of RF energy harvester need to be designed carefully to maximize efficiency to gain suitable output power. This research is focused on the design of an RF energy harvesting system in standard CMOS technology. The main goal of this research is to design an RF energy harvesting system with high power conversion efficiency (PCE) and adequate output voltage for low input power. The proposed dynamic voltage compensated cross-coupled fully differential rectifier is capable of providing very high PCE. The synchronous DC-DC boost converter provides stable DC output voltage. Rectifier and DC-DC converter of the system have been designed by using low-power transistors to ensure operation at very low input power. In order to maximize the power transfer through the system, matching network and maximum power point tracking (MPPT) controller has been implemented. In order to cope with rapid input power variation, a machine learning (ML) based MPPT controller has been designed and implemented into FPGA. The proposed ML based MPPT controller has demonstrated fast response time. To further enhance the performance of the RF energy harvesting system, a self-compensated rectifier integrated energy harvesting system is also presented. The energy extracted by using the proposed RF energy harvesting systems can easily be stored and utilized to fully power up low-power sensors used for IoT devices. Integration of RF energy harvester with these devices will significantly reduce the maintenance cost and result in energy-effluent IoT technologies.
Interactive, multi-purpose traffic prediction platform using connected vehicles dataset
Authors:   , Shoman Maged
Published: February 2023

Traffic congestion is a perennial issue because of the increasing traffic demand yet limited budget for maintaining current transportation infrastructure; let alone expanding them. Many congestion management techniques require timely and accurate traffic estimation and prediction. Examples of such techniques include incident management, real-time routing, and providing accurate trip information based on historical data. In this dissertation, a speech-powered traffic prediction platform is proposed, which deploys a new deep learning algorithm for traffic prediction using Connected Vehicles (CV) data. To speed-up traffic forecasting, a Graph Convolution -- Gated Recurrent Unit (GC-GRU) architecture is proposed and analysis of its performance on tabular data is compared to state-of-the-art models. GC-GRU's Mean Absolute Percentage Error (MAPE) was very close to Transformer (3.16 vs 3.12) while achieving the fastest inference time and a six-fold faster training time than Transformer, although Long-Short-Term Memory (LSTM) was the fastest in training. Such improved performance in traffic prediction with a shorter inference time and competitive training time allows the proposed architecture to better cater to real-time applications. This is the first study to demonstrate the advantage of using multiscale approach by combining CV data with conventional sources such as Waze and probe data. CV data was better at detecting short duration, Jam and stand-still incidents and detected them earlier as compared to probe. CV data excelled at detecting minor incidents with a 90 percent detection rate versus 20 percent for probes and detecting them 3 minutes faster. To process the big CV data faster, a new algorithm is proposed to extract the spatial and temporal features from the CSV files into a Multiscale Data Analysis (MDA). The algorithm also leverages Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) using the Nvidia Rapids framework and Dask parallel cluster in Python. The results show a seventy-fold speedup in the data Extract, Transform, Load (ETL) of the CV data for the State of Missouri of an entire day for all the unique CV journeys (reducing the processing time from about 48 hours to 25 minutes). The processed data is then fed into a customized UNet model that learns highlevel traffic features from network-level images to predict large-scale, multi-route, speed and volume of CVs. The accuracy and robustness of the proposed model are evaluated by taking different road types, times of day and image snippets of the developed model and comparable benchmarks. To visually analyze the historical traffic data and the results of the prediction model, an interactive web application powered by speech queries is built to offer accurate and fast insights of traffic performance, and thus, allow for better positioning of traffic control strategies. The product of this dissertation can be seamlessly deployed by transportation authorities to understand and manage congestions in a timely manner.
An examination of influenza immunity in pigs and their role in assessing antiviral therapies for humans
Authors:   , de Carvalho Madrid Darling Melany
Published: February 2023

[EMBARGOED UNTIL 12/1/2023] The lung is dynamic barrier organ with a complex cell population. Pulmonary immune cells must balance an effective and tolerogenic response to keep homeostasis. Due to numerous similarities to the human respiratory system, the pig is an excellent biomedical model for lung diseases, however many aspects of the porcine immune system remain poorly characterized. Moreover, influenza A viruses infect humans and pigs every year, causing major economic and health impacts. Nevertheless, there immunological mechanisms of influenza infection in the pig are not yet completely understood. Here we employ single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) to create an immune atlas of the pig lung. Our data show conserved features as well as species-specific differences in cell states and cell types compared to mice and human pulmonary immune cells. We also investigate the impact an influenza infection on leukocytes, gene expression profiles and cellcell communication of pig and mice. Our data provides important insights into the pig pulmonary immune response in healthy and influenza-infected animals at a higher resolution than was previously available.
Exploring the relationship between executive function, grit, academic engagement and self-concept on reading achievement
Authors:   , Hardy Precious M.
Published: February 2023

[EMBARGOED UNTIL 12/1/2023] The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship among executive function, grit, academic self-concept, academic engagement and reading achievement among Black fifth grade students utilizing an adaptation of a selfregulation and meta-cognitive framework. Structural equation analyses were conducted with a subset of 990 students from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study data to assess the relationship of variables of interest on reading achievement. Biological sex, executive function, grit, academic engagement, and academic self- concept were used as latent variables. Reading achievement was captured by use of a standardized score. Results indicated that executive function plays a key role in reading achievement as well as grit development. The latter was only observed for Black boys when using methods of listwise deletion. However, grit did have a significantly positive influence on academic engagement for both, Black males, and Black females. In fact, executive function coupled with grit, led to higher levels of academic engagement for Black males. Academic engagement proved influential for Black females when using multiple imputed data. Implications offer insightful considerations into understanding the dynamic of these variables and how they contribute to the reading achievement of Black students.
Photoemission spectroscopy and first-principles studies of two-dimensional Dirac and Weyl materials
Authors:   , Lu Qiangsheng
Published: February 2023

[EMBARGOED UNTIL 12/1/2023] Two-dimensional (2D) materials have attracted tremendous research interest since the breakthrough of graphene. As the nature of the low dimension, 2D materials are thin, flexible, and easy for fabrication. More interestingly, it emerges a lot of novel and unique properties such as 2D magnetic and 2D superconductivity, which attracts a huge amount of research and opens a door for the next generation of electronics and spintronics. Dirac and Weyl semimetals are topological matter with gapless electronic excitations protected by topology and symmetry. Their nontrivial electron band topology leads to protected surface or edge states and novel responses to applied electric and magnetic fields. Those states are described by the models of relativistic chiral fermions as quasi-particles, which raise a platform to study particle physics in condensed matter physics and lead to more possibilities for spintronics and quantum calculation. The combination of low-dimension and novel band topology would emerge a lot of novel physics properties and applications, but due to the lack of a dimensional constraint, 2D Dirac and Weyl systems are rare. In this research, we use the symmetry analysis to find the possible candidate of 2D Dirac and Weyl materials, the molecular beam epitaxy (MBE), and the in-situ scanning tunning microscopy (STM) are used to experimentally synthesize and adjust the 2D thin films, the combination of angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES) and first-principles calculation is used to examine the electronic properties of 2D Dirac and Weyl matter. Specifically, there are three different 2D Dirac or Weyl systems discussed in this thesis. The first one focuses on black phosphorous structures, and symmetryenforced Dirac states, unpinned 2D Dirac states, and 2D Weyl fermions are discussed in this system. The second one studies the interaction between Dirac states based on the Moir� lattice. The third one is mainly about the 2D magnetic material and its heterostructures which are the candidates of the 2D magnetic Weyl matters.
Accelerating data-driven discover in type 1 diabetes: an informatics-based approach
Authors:   , Tallon Erin M.
Published: February 2023

[EMBARGOED UNTIL 12/1/2023] Type 1 diabetes (T1D) is a lifelong chronic disease characterized by the absolute or near-absolute loss of insulin. For affected individuals, management of T1D is an unremitting challenge that involves constant blood glucose monitoring and lifelong administration and titration of exogeneous insulin. Unfortunately, findings from decades of research have not yet comprehensively translated into substantially improved health outcomes, suggesting that limitations inherent in the use of small patient samples and traditional analytical methods have curbed discovery of actionable disease insights. Understanding and addressing ongoing worsened health outcomes in T1D -- as well as particular vulnerabilities experienced by subgroups of individuals impacted by the disease -- requires actualization of a research paradigm that potentiates and advocates for analyses of complex T1D data at scale. The work described in this dissertation aims to accelerate translational research potential through iterative, data-intensive approaches that holistically integrate three interfacing domains: health informatics, clinical medicine, and biomedical research. Using approaches firmly rooted in explainable artificial intelligence, we successfully demonstrate the following: (1) development of a computational phenotyping methodology that enables automated diabetes/T1D case identification in heterogeneous, nationwide electronic health record (EHR) data, (2) a data-driven, contrast pattern mining approach for discovery of clinically significant phenotypic heterogeneity in T1D, and (3) development of a highly scalable pipeline to facilitate diabetes health outcomes research using multi-site EHR data. We also substantiate our commitment to openly disseminating our findings and tools to the research community at large. The totality of this work demonstrates that our informatic innovations are poised to significantly expand current research capabilities by leveraging automated processes that facilitate and enable rapid discovery of disease insights.
The anticipated, actual, and misunderstood value of Federal Work-study: a sequential explanatory mixed-methods study
Authors:   , Wilson-Keenan Nina R.
Published: February 2023

[EMBARGOED UNTIL 12/1/2023] Financial Aid Awards for first-time college students include a variety of offerings, including scholarships, grants, and loans. One award of financial assistance, Federal Work-study, is different from other types of financial aid awarded in that students must work to earn the funds. Yet, it is included as estimated financial assistance (EFA) and fulfills financial need toward covering a student's overall cost of attendance (COA) at a college or university. This study hopes to shed light on why students accept or decline Federal Work-study and their perception of the award regarding the investments they are making in their human capital and any outcomes. This study used a sequential explanatory mixed methods approach from a data set that includes students offered work-study through campus criteria and their actual experiences and perceptions through survey results and follow-up interviews.
Oxidative molecular layer deposition of redox-active thin-film polymers
Authors:   , Wyatt Quinton K.
Published: February 2023

[EMBARGOED UNTIL 12/1/2023] Thin film materials research for a more sustainable future is growing rapidly and new techniques for depositing these films are beginning to surface. One such technique is highlight in this body of work using gaseous precursors to grow bottom-up molecularly controlled polymers, Oxidative molecular layer deposition (oMLD). oMLD promises to enable molecular-level control of polymer structure through monomer-by-monomer growth via sequential, self-limiting, gas-phase surface reactions of monomer(s) and oxidant(s). However, only a few oMLD growth chemistry's have been demonstrated to date and limited mechanistic understanding is impairing progress in this field. Here, we establish key insights into the surface reaction mechanisms underlying oMLD growth. We identify the importance of a two-electron chemical oxidant with sufficient oxidation strength to oxidize both a surface and a gas-phase monomer to enable oMLD growth. The mechanistic insights we report will support rational molecular assembly of co-polymer structures to starkly improve the electrochemical capacity. This work is foundational to unlock molecular-level control of redox-active polymer structure and will enable the study of previously intractable questions regarding the molecular origins of polymer properties, allowing us to control and optimize polymer properties for energy storage, water desalination, and sensors.
Helen Torr: navigating the woman's experience in American modernism
Authors:   , Florey Audrey Michelle
Published: February 2023

[ACCESS RESTRICTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI-COLUMBIA AT REQUEST OF AUTHOR.] In 1971, scholar Linda Nochlin called for a feminist art history that not only sought to recover the work of women artists, but that examines the institutional constructs that have limited them. This essay influenced forthcoming generations to rewrite the art historical canon and reexamine the work of women artists from the medieval period to contemporary times. Although Nochlin's essay and feminist framework has inspired a reevaluation of the art historical discourse, there are still ongoing attempts to incorporate marginalized women artists into the discipline. This thesis is a product of Nochlin's essay that analyzes the sociocultural structures that have limited women artists' professional mobilization. Specifically, this thesis examines the relegation of one female artist in the American modernism canon, Helen Torr. American modernism in twentieth-century New York is the paradigm of women artist's omission from the art world based on systemic bias. At the turn of the twentieth century women recently gained access to male-dominated institutions, including equal formal training. Ultimately, this created a masculinity crisis in the modern art world, and its effects were felt in the construction of the first 'pure' American art form. Photographer and gallery owner, Alfred Stieglitz promoted a 'purely' American art that displayed the fleeting city life and natural landscapes in abstracted forms. However, Stieglitz's construction embraced an exclusive group of artists and a gendered ideology of their work. Modern artists' identities were based on their individual conscious, which was intended to embrace their sex. Establishing this construct marginalized and altogether eclipsed artists who did not strictly conform to this ideal. Torr is one among many women artists working within the modern art world who were relegated to the periphery because of their gender. Despite her success and expansive oeuvre--over two hundred paintings and works on paper--in the modern style, Torr was continually dismissed by Stieglitz, never gaining solo-exhibition status during her lifetime. This research examines the experiences and circumstances Torr faced within the modern art world based on the gendered discourse of twentieth-century American culture. Each chapter of this thesis exclusively focuses on a significant time period--1924, 1927, 1933- 35--within Torr's life. By analyzing Torr's joint diaries with fellow artist and husband, Arthur Dove, and her body of work from the 1920s into the 1930s we have evidence of how one woman artist adroitly navigated the American modern art world. Over the course of the three chapters it becomes apparent that Torr's optimism and confidence witnessed at the beginning of her career (in1924) slowly transitioned into a disenchanted state towards the end (1933-35) as she was continuously relegated based on her identity as a woman.
Source credibility and influencers: a qualitative study of the YouTube beauty community
Authors:   , Kresic Kristyna Marie
Published: February 2023

[ACCESS RESTRICTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI-COLUMBIA AT REQUEST OF AUTHOR.] With the oversaturation of beauty products in the market, consumers are increasingly having a hard time figuring out what the next best product is for them. To help alleviate some of the stress of finding the perfect product, many consumers have turned to YouTube beauty influencers. However, it is difficult not to wonder: What makes these influencers so credible that viewers will believe what they have to say and purchase the products they recommend? Through a series of focus groups, obtained from a large, public Midwestern university, I gained more insight into this phenomenon. The results suggested that the attributes that lead to credibility in the YouTube beauty community are similarity, expertise, trust and transparency and that these also have an impact on viewers' intentions to purchase products recommended by specific YouTube beauty influencers. This thesis focuses on the practical aspects of marketer's strategies involving YouTube beauty influencers as well as theoretical implications gleaned from research on source credibility theory.
More than nouns, verbs, or adjectives: influence of word characteristics on vocabulary knowledge
Authors:   , Roettgen Greta Johanna
Published: February 2023

[ACCESS RESTRICTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI-COLUMBIA AT REQUEST OF AUTHOR.] Purpose- Although children generally learn nouns before verbs, form class does not fully explain differences in vocabulary knowledge. The purpose of this study was to explore the word characteristics that predicted vocabulary knowledge following explicit vocabulary instruction. Method- Data from two recent efficacy studies of an explicit vocabulary instruction program were included in this secondary analysis. Target vocabulary words were categorized by word type and coded according to the perceptual accessibility continuum (Hadley, 2019). Results- Multiple regression analyses revealed that total perceptual accessibility significantly predicted vocabulary knowledge, whereas word type did not. Of the components of the perceptual accessibility continuum, only concreteness significantly predicted vocabulary knowledge. There was not a significant difference in vocabulary knowledge among word types. Conclusions- Perceptual accessibility is a stronger predictor of vocabulary knowledge compared to word type. Concreteness might be an important factor for vocabulary knowledge of children with low language skills.
Moves
Authors:   , Schroeder Nikolaus Duane
Published: February 2023

[ACCESS RESTRICTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI-COLUMBIA AT REQUEST OF AUTHOR.] "moves was commissioned by Khemia Ensemble as the culminating project for my master's degree from the University of Missouri, Columbia. Several elements common in my work at Mizzou appear in this piece--groove, humor, metric modulation, and video. Several elements are unique to this work, including serial pitch selection, animation, and a recent rekindling of my obsession with chess."--page 6.