bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Investigating reaction conditions for controlling the self-assembly of metal-seamed pyrogallol[4]arene nanocapsules
Authors:   , Rathnayake Asanka Sajeewani
Published: April 2021

[ACCESS RESTRICTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI AT REQUEST OF AUTHOR.] Upon coordination to metal ions, C-alkylpyrogallol[4]arenes (PgCn, where n is the number of carbon atoms in the pendant alkyl chains), can be assembled into spherical metal-organic nanocapsules (MONCs). MONCs are generally arranged into two different structural types, hexamers and dimers, of which six or two PgCn units assemble into capsular structures by coordination to 24 or 8 metal ions, respectively. Co[II]-, Zn[II]-, and Mn[II]-coordinated MONCs have been synthesized under ambient conditions and structurally characterized. Under certain reaction conditions, some transition metal ions and other reagents seem to act as electron accepting or donating reagents, such that appropriate oxidation or reduction reactions may occur. These types of in-situ redox reactions lead to the formation of mixed-valence Mn[II]/Mn[III]- and Fe[II]/Fe[III]-seamed MONCs. The occurrence of such oxidation/reduction reactions appears to be promoted by certain factors such as resulting pH conditions, size of the coordinating ions/ligands, and oxidizing/reducing abilities of reagents used in each synthesis. In addition, studies have been carried out to incorporate some defects into the MONC outer framework by using mixed-macrocycles as the starting materials. Mixed-macrocycles are synthesized by fusing both resorcinol and pyrogallol into the same macrocycle, and the position of resorcinol units in the MONC usually appears as a hole or defect on the capsule surface. Incorporations of such defects give MONCs potential for, for example, selective filtering of small molecules into the capsule interior and magnetic and electronic applications by varying the electrostatic interaction between adjacent metal ions.
2 Feet 4 Life : feasibility of a foot care self-management intervention for older adults without diabetes
Authors:   , O'Connor Jennifer J.
Published: April 2021

[ACCESS RESTRICTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI AT REQUEST OF AUTHOR.] Foot problems are prevalent, impact over 30% of older adults, and can lead to loss of function, falls, and hospitalization. This pilot intervention study, based on Social Cognitive Theory, evaluated the feasibility, acceptability and preliminary efficacy of the 2 Feet 4 Life foot care self-management intervention on foot care knowledge, self-efficacy, self-management behaviors, foot pain and foot health. Thirty-two non-diabetic, community-dwelling older adults were recruited from two senior centers. One community center was randomized to receive the Intervention; the other served as Control. Within the Control group, participants were randomized into two subgroups: True Control and Bias Control. The 2 Feet 4 Life intervention consisted of one hour sessions for four consecutive weeks. Assessments occurred at baseline, one month, four months and seven months. Study recruitment and retention goals were met (90.6% retention rate). The intervention was safely and accurately implemented within the anticipated timelines. Although some participants reported difficulties with select vocabulary used on one or more the patient-reported outcome tools, participants found the intervention content valuable and session length and frequency acceptable. Modest improvements in foot care knowledge, foot care behaviors, and foot health were observed in the Intervention group. Based on our analysis, the estimated between group effect size of 2 Feet 4 Life intervention appears to be large for foot care knowledge, self-efficacy, and behaviors. Our findings suggest that the patient-reported and provider-reported outcome tools used in this study require further refinement and psychometric testing. Future fully powered studies need to include diverse samples of older adults with greater variability in foot health and foot pain.
Pauca tamen memorans : A selection of late antique epitaphs commemorating young women
Authors:   , Harper Kristin
Published: April 2021

My dissertation examines a selection of fourth- and fifth-century inscribed Latin funerary poems commemorating young, Christian women in late antique Rome and Roman Italy. An in-depth analysis of fourteen verse epitaphs dedicated to young women reveals how funerary poetry creates an identity of deceased individuals while at the same time demonstrates religious beliefs of the time and offers insights into the role of women through powerful poetic means. Epigraphic commemoration of the dead was a persistent feature of the "epigraphic habit" in Roman Italy, one whose vitality indexes the shifting religious and moral sentiments of an age transitioning from a classical to a Christian system of values. The fourth century not only saw a poetic revival but also a surge in epigraphic production. The epitaphs of my collection expose the intricate interplay of late antique poetic and consolatory literary topoi employed by epitaph writers to aid in alleviating the grief of the bereaved. My particular questions highlight issues of literary sensibility and biographical representation as well as religious and spiritual ideals. In these epitaphs, classical references to untimely death and astral immortality blend with Christianizing ethical codes and a revised sense of the afterlife drawn from Scriptural images. Close scrutiny of these cultural negotiations reveals the forces reshaping the social identities of non-elite women within their social and religious communities as well as in their own families. In other words, not only do these epitaphs inform us about the social lives of these young women but they also illuminate the lived religion of the time. The reasons for addressing these questions and problems are several. The corpus of late antique funerary poetry, along with the social class that it commemorates, has been understudied by the scholarly community. These epitaphs may reveal how the bereaved honored and identified the female victims of untimely deaths while also demonstrating the importance of young women's roles in early Christian communities.
Reflux, aspiration and respiratory disease in dogs : clinical consideration and advances in aerodigestive diagnostics
Authors:   , Grobman Megan Elizabeth
Published: April 2021

The aspiration of gastric contents into the respiratory tract has been associated with the development and progression of multiple respiratory diseases in humans. In veterinary medicine the term "aspiration" is considered synonymous with "aspiration pneumonia" which, while frequently encountered, does not accurately reflect the breadth of aspiration associated respiratory syndromes (AARS). In the clinical veterinary literature, the effect of alimentary dysfunction on respiratory disease (aerodigestive disease) is rarely investigated despite evidence in the human literature, animal models, and some studies and case reports linking alimentary and respiratory disease in clinical small animal patients. Aerodigestive disease is rarely investigated in veterinary medicine due to lack of clinical recognition and limitations in available diagnostics. Furthermore, AARS may be precipitated by several potentially occult alimentary disorders. Current methods of investigating aerodigestive diseases in veterinary patients are limited by sensitivity, specificity, potential for bias, cost, and availability. This necessitates investigations into advanced diagnostics to identify a potentially underrecognized patient population with AARS. Additionally, similarities in anatomy, physiology, and several pathologic disorders between dogs and humans, make experimental and naturally occurring canine models integral to translational research. Thus, evaluating dogs with aerodigestive disease may represent an area of substantial clinical relevance in human as well as veterinary medicine.
Higher education students services : a qualitative study of two mid-size universities' direct exchange programs
Authors:   , Kinde Taylor N.
Published: April 2021

This qualitative study was designed to explore the experiences of students and student services staff involved in the direct exchange program between University of Central Missouri (UCM) and Orebro University. The researcher explored the impact of student services staff assistance on students participating in this direct exchange. The conceptual framework of this research study included Schlossberg's Transition Theory (1984), which was selected as it explains what happens for students who are experiencing a significant transition. It directs them to the help they need when studying abroad in a new culture. Another theory that was utilized was Astin's Theory of Student Involvement (1985), which reveals how students who get involved in their study abroad experience through co-curricular activities have a better overall experience. Participants of this student included students who participated in this direct exchange as well as student services staff who work very closely with the exchange students. Data collection for this qualitative student included individual interviews, observations, and an online survey. For accuracy and credibility, the researcher did "member checking" as defined by Creswell, meaning the researcher shared the information revealed by the data analysis process with the participants to ensure the information was accurate (Creswell, 2014; Merriam and Tisdell, 2016; Seidman, 2013). Overall analysis of the data disclosed many themes, such as volunteer opportunities, comfort, relationships, multiple challenges, independence, personal and professional development, study differences (orientation, support, etc.), and reaching out. All of the findings provide real information describing the richness of the direct exchange established between UCM and Orebro University.
Multiscale phase change, heat and mass transfer in direct contact membrane distillation
Authors:   , Norouzi Elnaz
Published: April 2021

The global water shortage has become a serious threat for the world and the most promising solution for the water issue is the desalination of seawater or brackish water. In this work, direct contact membrane distillation (DCMD) as one of thermal desalination technologies was numerically and exprimentally analyzed to study its performance. A large DCMD system with multiple membrane modules in a parallel arrangement running on the waste heat from a diesel power generator was numerically analyzed using a thermo-fluid network model to study the technical feasibility of the use of the low-grade engine waste heat and simulate the distillation performance of the DCMD system. Next, a small DCMD experimental apparatus was fabricated to test for the distillation performance for various operating conditions (inlet temperatures, flow rates of feed and permeate streams and NaCl concentration) and design variables (filament spacing of a screen spacer in the flow channels and flow configuration). In the DCMD, two different regimes were observed in the water flux behavior regarding the salinity of feed water. In the first regime, from low NaCl concentration to 90% saturated NaCl concentration, there was a gradual decrease in the water flux due to the suppression of vapor pressure at the feed water which is simulated by a CFD model. In the second regime, at higher 90% saturated NaCl concentration, there was a sharp drop in the water flux due to the deposition of NaCl crystals on the membrane surface which is simulated by an analytical model using the adjusting parameter from the experiment. Finally, a nanoscale DCMD using Carbon Nanotube (CNT) membrane was numerically analyzed using non-equilibrium molecular dynamics (NEMD) simulation for different diameters and lengths of the CNT and operating conditions such as system temperature, temperature difference between the feed (hot) and permeate (cold) reservoirs, and sodium chloride (NaCl) concentration in the feed reservoir. The distillation performance of the DCMD systems is enhanced by increasing system temperature, temperature difference between feed and permeate streams, and decreasing the NaCl concentration. The permeability of the CNT membrane (1.8 x 10-5 liter/m2-s-Pa) was found two orders-of-magnitudes higher than a Polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) membrane (1.7 x 10-7 liter/m2-s-Pa ) used in our experimental work.
The genetic and physiological basis of total energy budget in different nutritional environments
Authors:   , Perinchery-Herman Anna
Published: April 2021

Organisms need to adapt to dynamic environments over time. An organism consumes and stores a finite amount of resources that are used for all daily tasks. In order to survive and thrive, they must allocate these finite resources to different life history traits like reproduction or somatic growth. In order to understand this process, I examined the genetic and phenotypic variation in macromolecule content, estimated heritability for these phenotypes, and studied the effects of selection on macromolecule content. In my first study, I used the genetic mapping population, the Drosophila Synthetic Population Resource (DSPR), to measure macromolecule content and mapped the genetic loci responsible for carbohydrate, lipid and protein storage on different diets in Drosophila melanogaster. I measured the effect of nutritional environment on overall fly composition. By using the energy budget assays, I showed that there is phenotypic variation in response to diet, the genotypes responsible for nutrient content storage are plastic and that there are multiple genomic loci of interest. Nutrient acquisition increased according to diet composition, with DR having the lowest amount and HS having the highest. The exception to this pattern was glycogen. On the C diet, lipid and carbohydrate amounts correlated together. Overall, protein consistently correlated with all other macromolecules between 0.2 and 0.3 correlation. In my second study, I estimated the heritability of lipid, carbohydrate, glycogen, and protein contents across three different diets using a half-sibling design experiment, using flies from a genetically diverse outbred population generated from the DSPR. I showed differing heritability for different macromolecule contents across nutritional environments. This suggesting not only does nutrient content change based on the particular environment a genotype is in, but that these phenotypes are heritable. In my final study, I tested the effects of female fruit flies undergoing selection for 30 generations. I measured protein, lipid, soluble carbohydrates, and glycogen amount in ovaries and somatic tissue across three different diets across three different selection regimes and found that selection treatments did not significantly impacted macromolecule content. However, diet did. Strikingly, for carbohydrates specifically, patterns of acquisition remained the same in both the base population and after thirty generations of selection regardless of selection regimen. Unlike previous studies, I focused on the impact of diet and measured all four energy budget components on the same individual flies. This allows a wider understanding of resource allocation in different environments. I found that there was variation in macromolecule content acquisition. It is a heritable phenotype, and that diet was more influential in macromolecule content allocation than selection treatment.
An examination of democratic educational processes within concert band rehearsals
Authors:   , Scherer Alec D.
Published: April 2021

This dissertation consists of three projects that I designed to examine high school band directors' and collegiate musicians' experiences and perceptions of democratic educational processes within concert band rehearsals. The first investigation is a review of literature about democratic educational principles and their application in non-music and music classrooms. The second investigation is a phenomenological study of collegiate musicians' lived experiences with democratic rehearsal procedures in a concert band setting. Emergent themes included (a) the value of multiple perspectives, (b) ownership and musical agency, (c) engagement, (d) the ability to provide feedback, and (e) concerns with the amount of rehearsal time. The third investigation was a survey study of high school band directors' attitudes toward democratic rehearsal procedures, self-reported use in a typical rehearsal cycle, and perceived disadvantages and advantages. Results indicated that respondents believed several democratic rehearsal procedures were important for their students to experience; however, the frequency of their application was inconsistent. Taken together, results from these three projects indicated that democratic educational principles may be beneficial for students and teachers by providing opportunities for students to (a) actively engage in their learning, (b) exercise their agency, (c) work collaboratively, and (d) develop skills related to musical independence.
Effect of climate change, drought, and insects on oak-pine forests in the Ozark highlands
Authors:   , Duan Shengwu
Published: April 2021

[ACCESS RESTRICTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI--COLUMBIA AT REQUEST OF AUTHOR.] Oak-dominated forests in the Ozarks Highlands of Arkansas and Missouri have been suffering severe oak decline and this became a chronic problem since the late 1970s. Such decline became increasingly severe as numerous dense oak forests in this region approaching physiological maturity. Repeated droughts and insect outbreaks in the Ozarks Highlands from 1998 to 2015 accelerate the decline process and resulted in increased mortality of the oaks, particularly those in red oak group. Given these concerns, the overall objective of this dissertation was to conduct a regional scale assessment to evaluate and predict the impact of drought and insects on the oak forests under changing climate. This dissertation contained three main objectives: 1) to evaluate the drought effect on forest growth phenology and productivity by using spatially-explicit drought indices and land surface phenology techniques to capture oak, pine and mixed oak-pine forests' responses to repeated droughts; 2) to develop a climate sensitive biotic disturbance agent (BDA) module in forest landscape modeling framework to quantify the relative importance in determining the insect disturbance regimes under the warming climate; and 3) to predict the effects of insect disturbance, climate change and their interactions on forest composition under alternative climate and insect disturbance scenarios. The dissertation provided a methodology to disassemble the spatial and temporal variation of drought conditions in the Ozark Highlands and provided new insights into improving drought resistance and recovery capacity of forests with different species under climate change. The results from this dissertation also helped to understand the importance of vegetation feedback in predicting inset disturbance regimes under a warming climate as they may mediate or even reverse the expectation of increased insect disturbance in this region. In addition, the projections of how tree species will response to insect disturbance will benefit decision making in silvicultural prescriptions and longterm management plans in the Ozark Highlands.
The role of positive father involvement in the associations among stressful family life events, family functioning, and parental warmth in predicting children's sociobehavioral health in Korean families
Authors:   , Han Seung-Hee
Published: April 2021

[ACCESS RESTRICTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI--COLUMBIA AT REQUEST OF AUTHOR.] The study examined the longitudinal associations between stressful family life events at 4 years of age and children's internalizing and externalizing behaviors at 7 years of age, whether family functioning and parental warmth (i.e., mothers' warmth, fathers' warmth) successively mediated those associations, and whether the pattern of associations varied by positive father involvement in Korean families. Participants were 1,703 families including mothers (M age = 34 years at T1), fathers (M age = 37 years at T1), and children (M age = 51 months at T1) in the Panel Study on Korean Children. Results revealed that stressful family life events was positively associated with children's internalizing and externalizing behaviors, but not through family functioning and parental warmth. Family functioning and mothers' warmth successively mediated the association between positive father involvement and children's internalizing and externalizing behaviors. Positive father involvement moderated the association between stressful family life events and externalizing behaviors. The findings highlight that positive father involvement may play a protective role in children's externalizing behaviors when Korean families experience stressful situations.
An evaluation of high school students' readiness for college-level English composition at a private college as perceived by instructors
Authors:   , Koogler Lamae
Published: April 2021

[ACCESS RESTRICTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI--COLUMBIA AT REQUEST OF AUTHOR.] This mixed-methods case study evaluated high school students' readiness for college level English composition at a private college from the perspective of both high school and college instructors. The setting took place at a small private college and two local public high schools. Research questions inquired about the importance of state learning standards for students as well as proficiency levels of students. Findings indicated parallel expectations for the importance of state standards; however, dissimilarities in perceptions of students' proficiency levels. Also included, is an evaluation of similarities promoting and obstacles impeding alignment of expectations between the two educational sectors. Similarities promoting alignment of expectations were teaching experiences, teaching philosophies, independence in curriculum, challenging student characteristics, and teamwork. Obstacles impeding alignment of expectations included lack of collaboration, misunderstandings, different learning goals, dissimilar cultural expectations, and a disconnection between the two groups
Reliability of EAM potentials for FCC metals properties prediction
Authors:   , Rassoulinejad Mousavi Seyed Moein
Published: April 2021

[ACCESS RESTRICTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI--COLUMBIA AT REQUEST OF AUTHOR.] A perfectly transferable interatomic potential that works for different materials and systems of interest is lacking. This work considers the transferability of several existing interatomic potentials by evaluating their capability at various temperatures, to determine the range of accuracy of these potentials in atomistic simulations. A series of embedded-atom-method (EAM) based interatomic potentials has been examined for precious and popular metals in nanoscale studies. The potentials have been obtained from various credible and trusted repositories and were compared to tackle the lack of a comparison between several existing models. The interatomic potentials designed for the single elements, binary, trinary and higher order compounds were tested for each species using molecular dynamics simulation. Validity of results arising from each potential was investigated against experimental values at different temperatures from a temperature range around Debye temperature to melting point. The data covers accuracy of all studied potentials for prediction of the single crystals' elastic stiffness constants as well as the bulk, shear and Young's modulus of the polycrystalline specimens. As testing and benchmarking results for users is a necessity before running a new simulation, results of this work increase their assurance and lead them to the right model by a way to easily look up data. Referring to this work also prevents any inaccurate prediction by an atomistic simulation due to use of an inappropriate interatomic potential.
Occupy, blockade, circulate : narrating community in 21st century crisis fiction
Authors:   , Watts Steven
Published: April 2021

[ACCESS RESTRICTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI--COLUMBIA AT REQUEST OF AUTHOR.] This dissertation looks at contemporary social movements and novels through the lenses of sociology and infrastructuralism. I argue that there is a growing field of novels concerned with crises of inequality and that the formal innovations in these novels are representations of how social movements understand and intervene with the infrastructural facilitation of inequality. The first chapter uses accounts of Occupy Wall Street to understand how the movement conceptualized class inequality as a result of hierarchical power and attempted to implement horizontal tactics including the people's microphone. I then look to Ben Lerner's novel 10:04 and Rachel Kushner's novel The Flamethrowers to illustrate formal experimentation with horizontal voice. The second chapter examines the concept of infrastructural blockade, which highlights people's relationship on resources taken from marginalized communities, used by the protestors at Standing Rock to illustrate the function of affective blockades to illuminate environmental injustice in Ruth Ozeki's A Tale for the Time Being and Nell Zink's The Wallcreeper. The third chapter looks to the airport protests that arose in opposition to President Trump's Executive Order 13769, a proposed travel ban, to illustrate the relationship between movement of people and movement of resources, before looking to how Colson Whitehead's The Underground Railroad and Mohsin Hamid use fantastic transportation structures to show migration delinked from the need or demand for labor and resources. Each chapter features a social movement that emphasizes infrastructure and two novels that represent that social movement's concern in distinct ways.
Catch-up innovation in emerging market multinationals
Authors:   , Chen Li
Published: April 2021

[ACCESS RESTRICTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI AT REQUEST OF AUTHOR.] In this dissertation, I study how emerging market multinationals innovate to catch up with incumbent global leaders. By extending entrepreneurial perspectives into the emerging market context, I provide a comprehensive framework to account for EMNEs' distinctive innovation practices. In essay one, I conceptualize what I refer to as catch-up innovation as a multi-dimensional construct consisting of scarcity induced decisionmaking coupled with innovative behavior. I develop a measurement model of catch-up innovation and empirically test the validity of the measurement model using a sample of Chinese multinational firms. The results support my theoretical conceptualization. In essay two, I focus on EMNEs' aggressive commercialization practices, a unique behavioral dimension of catch-up innovation. I propose a model to explain how aggressive commercialization is influenced by institutional support factors (i.e., government encouragement and knowledge from research institutions) and resource constraints (i.e., lack of innovation capability, lack of brand equity, and lack of time). I also consider how aggressive commercialization influences EMNEs' product output performance. Additionally, I explore two sets of moderating factors, task-related capabilities and environment-related capabilities, in order to study the relationship between aggressive commercialization and product output performance. Findings from a sample of Chinese multinational firms support a majority of my hypotheses
Food 'four' thought : examining sigma-1 receptor antagonist PD144418 on food reinforced behaviors
Authors:   , Tapia Melissa A.
Published: April 2021

[ACCESS RESTRICTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI AT REQUEST OF AUTHOR.] A large number of individuals consume a poor diet, including food and beverages that are high in fat, salts, and/or sugar, often in conjunction with a lack of exercise. Alterations in one's feeding behaviors have implications as it relates to the prevention and treatment of one's risk of obesity and of common health consequences associated with being overweight or obese. Therefore, exploring a potential pharmacological manipulation of feeding behaviors could provide a treatment option for those who have disordered eating patterns. The potent and selective sigma-1 receptor antagonist PD144418 was examined as a potential therapeutic target regarding motivational aspects of food-reinforced operant behaviors. Additionally, experiments looked at whether biological factors (i.e., sex) and physiological factors (i.e., energy intake and physical activity) moderate the effects. Results indicated PD144418 decreases an animal's motivational effort, or work, for food pellets but has no impact on the consumption of freely available food pellets. Such effects on motivational effort to work for food occur regardless of sex. However, alterations in physiological factors, such as energy intake, appear to be sex dependent as PD144418 selectively reduces female motivation for food during negative energy balance. Moreover, in males, PD144418, in conjunction with access to voluntary physical activity, does not alter food-reinforced operant responding. How PD144418 may be exerting its effects on motivational aspects of feeding is via alterations in dopaminergic signaling, as coadministration of PD144418 along with an intra-accumbens infusion of d-amphetamine, a dopamine agonist, but not DAMGO, a mu-opioid agonist attenuates operant responding.
'We only do food' : social assumptions of poverty and the implementation of emergency food services
Authors:   , Chapman Darren
Published: April 2021

Food pantries are a critical social safety net for food insecure households, yet the growth of food pantry services in the United States has not been accompanied by an equal increase in research related to their organizational structuring. A state-wide survey of Missouri food pantries in the Feeding America network was conducted to investigate a) how food pantries are structured, b) the social assumptions of poverty that food pantry directors hold, and c) how these assumptions inform the structuring of services. Latent profile analysis of food pantry structuring identified a clear grouping of pantry service models, with results showing support for emerging food justice strategies to emergency food structuring. While past research has identified links between social beliefs and actions, food pantry director assumptions of poverty were not a strong predictor for food pantry structuring. Additionally, many key demographic indicators that have been previously associated with assumptions of poverty were not strong predictors for food pantry structuring. Results from this study highlight the complexity of how and why food pantries are structured in the ways that they are. While pantry directors identified a number of activities as 'important' to ideal pantry operations, the engagement with these activities at their pantries was often limited, with many not even providing referrals to community support organizations. Future research should focus on better understanding the complexity of what guides directors' organization of pantry services. Research should also extend to understanding the social assumptions that guide emergency food strategies at regional and state levels.
Faculty burnout and its relationship to social and institutional support
Authors:   , Clubbs Brook Hildebrand
Published: April 2021

The purpose of this sequential explanatory study was to determine if there was a relationship between faculty burnout, social support, institutional support, or salary, as well as establish if any college at a regional public university in the Midwest was less burned out than the others. Participants (n = 111) completed a survey that contained qualifying as well as demographic questions, Maslach's Burnout Inventory, Cutrona and Russell's Social Provisions Scale, and the institutional support section of Conklin and Desselle's Multidimensional Work Satisfaction Scale. Social support in the form of guidance and reassurance of worth, as well as institutional support, were found to mitigate burnout. The College of Education, Health and Human Studies had a lower burnout score than other colleges. In semi-structured interviews with faculty, it was determined that personal accomplishment, as well as colleagues, department chairs, and deans who create a culture of support, can reduce burnout.
Educative features of upper elementary Eureka math curriculum
Authors:   , Dwiggins Amy Dawn
Published: April 2021

This two-phase study examined the educative features of upper elementary Eureka Math curriculum as well as examined take-up of those educative features in two classrooms at each grade level. Using an analytical framework based on Males (2011) and Quebec Fuentes and Ma (2018) in the first phase, I coded the educative features of a module at both the third- and fourth-grade levels for educative features for the category of content knowledge (Shulman, 1986) being addressed, the location of the feature in the lesson, and the type of guidance (Enactment or Rationale) being provided. An examination of the data in this phase revealed that most educative features addressed Pedagogical Content Knowledge for Mathematics Topics, was located in the Concept Development of the lesson, and provided guidance for enacting the feature. In the second phase, using two target lessons at each grade level, I identified key educative features to follow through the phases of curriculum use (Stein, Remillard, and Smith, 2007) in order to examine the take-up of those educative features by practicing teachers. An examination of the data in this phase revealed differences and similarities in take-up of educative features. In particular, differences in take-up of Enactment Guidance for Experiences seemed to heavily influence differences in take-up of Enactment Guidance for Facilitating Discourse and Enactment Guidance for Participation Structures. Additionally, similarities in take-up of Enactment Guidance for Representations and Enactment Guidance for Developing Mathematical Terminology were revealed across teachers at the same grade level. Implications for curriculum development and recommendations for further research are offered.
Why preferences can be optional
Authors:   , Asper Jon Marc
Published: April 2021

[ACCESS RESTRICTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI AT REQUEST OF AUTHOR.] In practical deliberation, your aim should not always only be to promote objective goodness. Rather, I argue, you should use your own practical evaluations, as long as they are reasonable. Reasonable evaluations are sensitive to agent-centered reasons (e.g., you should not have a favorite child), instrumental reasons (e.g., to have more common interests with others), and rational reasons. This dissertation primarily develops an account of rational reasons for evaluations. Particularly, I investigate which evaluations rationally fit objective values. For many items (e.g., career paths or hobbies), it is plausible that no particular sharp evaluation is rationally required, even though some evaluations are clearly too high or low. For other items (e.g., someone else's pain), their weight in practical deliberation do not depend on the evaluator's perspective. To explain this difference, I defend an interval account of rationally fitting evaluaations, noting that the intervals can collapse to points. Each chapter rebuts an objection to the interval account. Chapter 1 rebuts the objection that value relations cannot be modeled using relations between intervals. I offer different definitions. Chapter 2 rebuts the objection that arbitrarily sharpened evaluations (within the intervals) cannot be practically authoritative. I respond that they must be practically authoritative or else perfect rationality would be possible in principle. Chapter 3 responds to the objection that evaluations cannot be practically authoritative because it is practically impossible to change them. I grant that it is often permissible to change our evaluations, but I rhetorically challenge the objector to deny that such things can (though need not) contribute meaning to a life.
Three essays on the commercialization of university discoveries
Authors:   , Cheng Hao
Published: April 2021

[ACCESS RESTRICTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI AT REQUEST OF AUTHOR.] Universities commercialize their discoveries at an increasing pace in order to maximize their economic impact and generate additional funding for research. They form technology transfer offices (TTOs) to evaluate the commercial value of university inventions and choose the most promising ones to patent and commercialize. Uncertainties and asymmetric information in project selection make the TTO choices difficult and can cause both type 1 error (forgo valuable discoveries) and type 2 error (select low-value discoveries). In this dissertation, I examine the TTO's project selection process and the factors that influence the choice of academic inventions for patenting and commercialization, the type 1 error committed, and the final licensing outcome. The dissertation contains three essays. In the first essay, I analyze project selection under uncertainty when both the quality of the proposed project and the motives of the applicant are uncertain. Some inventors may have an incentive to disguise the true quality and commercial value of their discoveries in order to conform to organizational expectations of disclosure while retaining rights to potentially pursue commercialization of their discoveries outside the organization's boundaries for their own benefit. Inventors may equally, ex post, lose interest to the commercialization of their invention due to competing job demands. I develop a model to examine the decision process of a university TTO responsible for the commercialization of academic inventions under such circumstances. The model describes the conditions that prompt Type 1 and Type 2 errors and allows for inferences for minimizing each. Little is known about the factors that make project selection effective or the opposite and there has been limited empirical analysis in this area. The few empirical studies that are available, examine the sources of type 2 error but there is no empirical work that analyzes type 1 error and the contributing factors. Research on type 1 error encounters two main difficulties. First, it is difficult to ascertain the decision process and second, it is challenging to approximate the counterfactual. Using data from the TTO of the University of Missouri, in the second essay I study the factors that influence the project selection process of the TTO in and the ex post type 1 error realized. In most cases, universities pursue commercialization of their inventions through licensing. There have been a few empirical studies that have researched the factors that affect licensing and their relative importance. In the third essay, I examine the characteristics of university inventions that are licensed using almost 10 years of data on several hundred of inventions, their characteristics, and the licensing status.
An investigation of the perception of factors associated with daily living activities of comprehensive psychiatric rehabilitation consumers
Authors:   , Tubbergen-Maglio Tjitske G.
Published: April 2021

[ACCESS RESTRICTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI AT REQUEST OF AUTHOR.] For the last 60 years, there has been an increasing number of American adults identified as suffering from one or more severe diagnosable mental disorders that reduce an individual's ability to perform living and working tasks. Many of these consumers participate in services through comprehensive psychiatric rehabilitation (CPR) programs throughout the United States. CPR services attempt to meet the needs of individuals with severe psychiatric disabilities (Barton, 1999). Informed by ecological systems theory (EST) (Bronfenbrenner,1979) and empowerment theory (ET; Perkins and Zimmermen,1995; Rappaport, 1981; Rappaport 1990), this study utilized a survey in which CPR consumers rated numerous demographic and study variables regarding how helpful each was to their daily living activities. At the end of six-weeks of data collection, 122 consumers' surveys had been collected for data analysis. Descriptive statistics and linear regression analysis were employed to address four research questions. Half of the participants were 45 years of age or younger and half were 46 years of age or older. Most of the participants were female and identified as white. More than half of the participants lived on their own in the community, with most of the remaining living in an RCF (residential care facility) and a few living in a group setting with family or with friends. Most of the participants reported that their parents were married or divorced, that their parents are still living and that they have contact with their parents. Most of the participants had siblings and reported having contact with their siblings. Most of the participants reporting having weekly contact with their Community Support Specialist. Results of the regression analyses with the demographic variables and each of the system variables revealed several microsystem variables and several mezzo-system variables as strong predictors of DLA-20 scores; however, no macro-system variables met significance to be considered predictive of DLA-20 scores. The regression analysis, with the demographic variables and the system variables combined, found significant predictors of DLA-20 that came from all three system variables: micro-, mezzo-, and macro-system variables. The results of this study can be used to support the implementation of individual treatment plans, through the SMART (specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-limited) goals and treatment approach in CPR programs so that the services provided to CPR consumers truly help them successfully complete their activities of daily living.
Startup, transition core, and molybdenum-99 production upgrade analyses for low-enriched uranium fuel conversion at the University of Missouri research reactor
Authors:   , Cowherd Wilson
Published: April 2021

Under the direction of the United States Department of Energy (DOE) National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) Office of Material Management and Minimization (M3) Reactor Conversion Program, the University of Missouri Research Reactor (MURRÂ®) plans to convert from highly enriched uranium (HEU) fuel to low-enriched uranium (LEU) fuel. Low power physics startup test predictions, transition core planning, and analysis for a proposed fission-based molybdenum-99 production upgrade were done in support of LEU fuel conversion. As a first step to LEU fuel conversion, low-power physics tests will be performed to calculate reactor physics parameters. These parameters include flux distributions, coefficients of reactivity, and critical assembly measurements. To facilitate this test, reactor physics calculations were performed using MCNP5 to predict the values of these parameters. Implications of these predictions and areas of uncertainty in the prediction analysis are also discussed. Once MURR completes the testing of the initial LEU core, MURR will enter into a series of transition cycles until steady-state mixed-burnup operation is reached. A Python program was developed that incorporated the constraints of MURR operation while minimizing the time MURR will have to operate atypically during the transition cycles. The impacts of the transition cycles on experiment performance are reported, as well as the number of fuel elements needed. Finally, preliminary analysis on a proposed molybdenum-99 production device at MURR was performed. This analysis shows the impact on the reactor power distribution with implications to predicted safety margins as a part of the larger scope of the experiment analysis.
Individual, relational, and cultural correlates of U.S. Latino/a college students' prosocial behaviors
Authors:   , Pierotti Sarah L.
Published: April 2021

Prosocial behaviors, or actions intended to benefit others, are important social behaviors that people conduct towards others. These behaviors can be motivated by a host of variables, including individual-level characteristics, relational-level considerations, and culture-specific values. Socioemotive, sociocognitive, and cultural variables have all been studied as important correlates of prosocial behaviors. In addition, maternal and paternal support may play a role in the internalization of these moral motivations. The goal of this study was to test a series of models using both variable-centered and person-centered statistical approaches to investigate how individual-level characteristics, relational-level variables, and culture-specific values both interrelate and simultaneously affect prosocial behaviors. The study used questionnaire measures completed by 250 U.S. Latino/a college students (M age = 21.0 years; 62.0% women). Latent profile analysis and path analysis were used to examine relations among empathic concern, perspective taking, familism, maternal and paternal support, and prosocial behaviors. This research can lend support for culture-specific models of prosocial development that simultaneously account for individual-level, relational-level, and culture-specific characteristics.
A qualitative bounded case study on teacher and administrator perceptions of students' adverse childhood experiences in rural, northwest Missouri elementary school
Authors:   , Moore Rebecca A.
Published: April 2021

The purpose of this bounded case study (Merriam and Tisdell, 2016) was to add to the existing research literature on early childhood trauma in addition to understanding teacher and administrator perceptions on students' adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) in rural, Northwest Missouri elementary schools from 2009 through 2019. Survey participants (n=31), consisting of kindergarten through third grade teachers and elementary administrators completed surveys on their perceptions of students' ACEs within their school districts. Interview participants (n=11), consisting of kindergarten through third-grade teachers and elementary principals, shared their perceptions and lived experiences of students' ACEs. Teachers and administrators noticed the most adverse childhood experiences K - 3rd grade children in rural Missouri elementary schools were exposed to include: (a) divorce, (b) substance abuse, (c) mental illness, (d) physical abuse, and (e) emotional neglect. Three themes emerged from the study: (1) the family system included household dysfunction that may include impactful events such as divorce, substance abuse, and mental illness (2) increase of teachers' and administrators' awareness of trauma, and (3) resources and supports. Teachers and administrators noticed an increase in continued trauma perceived to be because of unstable family conditions systems described by Urie Bronfenbrenner's (1970) human ecological systems theory as the microsystem. Suggested implications for teachers, administrators included: (1) an increase of teacher and administrator awareness of trauma, (2) trauma-informed training opportunities through the Missouri Trauma Informed School Initiative for teachers and administrators, (3) a curriculum focus on children's social emotional development, (4) additional youth mental health resources and support for families and school district personnel, and (5) developing and implementing a mentor program partnering teachers and administrators with families in crisis. Additionally, results from the study could aid in helping the MASA, MAESP, and MSTA consider new evidence related to student trauma in rural public elementary schools. This may lead to an opportunity for these professional organizations to review their structures in order to collaborate to create a more robust and meaningful dialogue about childhood trauma. These educational discussions may lead to compelling evidence suggesting adjustments in legislation to support children impact by adverse childhood experiences.