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Title
Coalescence and Animal Use : Examining Community Building at the Multi-Ethnic Morton Village Site
Creator
Painter, Autumn Marie
Date
2022
Collection
Electronic Theses & Dissertations
Description
Across human history, groups of people have come together, found commonalities, and negotiated their differences in order to form new communities; a process known as coalescence. Until recently, archaeologists have primarily studied this social phenomenon by looking at the large-scale changes that occur, including settlement aggregation and demography. New research has begun to focus on smaller scales of analysis, including aspects of daily life and the role of common behaviors in bringing...
Show moreAcross human history, groups of people have come together, found commonalities, and negotiated their differences in order to form new communities; a process known as coalescence. Until recently, archaeologists have primarily studied this social phenomenon by looking at the large-scale changes that occur, including settlement aggregation and demography. New research has begun to focus on smaller scales of analysis, including aspects of daily life and the role of common behaviors in bringing people together. One such aspect of daily life is food. While previous research has recognized that changes in subsistence systems, such as a need to intensify the production of food to feed larger numbers of people, are commonly part of the coalescence process, little has been done to understand how these changes would affect a community or how a socially charged medium, such as food, may have contributed to ongoing coalescence. In this dissertation, I examine how animal use intersects with the broader process of coalescence through a multidimensional analysis of faunal remains from Morton Village, a site of on-going coalescence in the central Illinois River valley. Specifically, three aspects of animal use during the coalescence process were examined: 1) studying the overall diet as it intersects with the negotiation of everyday life, 2) animal access strategies including foodsharing practices, and 3) the use of animals and animal symbolism in ritual activities as a part of the long-term process of coalescence. These analyses found that the occupants of Morton Village used a diverse range of animal species, avian symbolism, and foodsharing/distribution practices within a variety of social interactions and practices. From this data, I argue that the use of animals played an important role in the coalescence process at Morton Village by assisting in building social relationships that were critical to community formation and maintenance during the coalescence process. This study demonstrates that the study of animal use is a fruitful avenue of research that can reveal several mechanisms for how social relationships are formed and community building processes occurred during coalescence.
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Title
Assessing Safety Performance of Roadway Characteristics in Rural and Urban Contexts
Creator
Chakraborty, Meghna
Date
2022
Collection
Electronic Theses & Dissertations
Description
Evaluating the safety performance of roadway segments and intersections typically involves associating traffic crashes, injuries, and fatalities to various roadway and traffic characteristics, which typically vary broadly between rural and urban contexts. In rural areas, roadway geometric characteristics often play a critical role in the safety performance of a given roadway, while myriad other factors, including driveways and intersections, tend to have a greater influence on urban roadway...
Show moreEvaluating the safety performance of roadway segments and intersections typically involves associating traffic crashes, injuries, and fatalities to various roadway and traffic characteristics, which typically vary broadly between rural and urban contexts. In rural areas, roadway geometric characteristics often play a critical role in the safety performance of a given roadway, while myriad other factors, including driveways and intersections, tend to have a greater influence on urban roadway safety. However, certain geometric aspects, such as the characteristics of the horizontal curvature and the impact of driveway land-use type have not been well-explored in prior roadway safety research. There has also been limited research on the safety performance for roadways of lower functional classifications, such as minor arterial and collector roadways, which comprise a substantial portion of the nationwide roadway network but are often designed to lower standards and possess driver and trip characteristics that typically differ from those of principal arterials. Therefore, assumptions made on the general effect of the predictor variables from typical safety performance functions may not apply to lower roadway classes. This research sought to explore those gaps in the roadway safety research domain. To accomplish this objective, roadway characteristics were collected along with traffic volume and crash data for greater than 13,000 miles of two-lane roadways in rural, urban, and suburban areas from across the state of Michigan for the period of 2011 through 2018. A series of safety performance functions were developed using a mixed-effects negative binomial modeling structure, which included fixed-effects and random-effects to account for the unobserved heterogeneity associated with varying design standards and site characteristics. The results indicated that driveway density significantly influences crash occurrence across all land-use categories for paved highways, although no impact was observed on unpaved roads. Commercial driveways possessed a stronger effect on crash occurrence than residential driveways or industrial driveways. In urban areas, posted speed limit had a significant positive association with crash frequency, and this effect increased when the speed limit exceeded 40 mph. The effect of speed limit was stronger on urban minor arterial segments (compared to collectors) and for fatal and injury crashes (compared to property damage only). This research also assessed the safety impacts associated with horizontal curve characteristics on rural highway segments, including curve type, curve direction, curve-approaching, curve-following, and inner-curve tangent distances, and curve design speed on rural two-lane undivided highways. Similar to prior research, curves with design speeds lower than the posted speed limit showed elevated crash occurrence. Most notably, compound and reverse curves were associated with greater crash occurrence compared to simple curves, with the greatest impact by the reverse curves. The increased approaching tangent distance for the simple curve or the first of a series of compound or reverse curves increased crash likelihood, perhaps due to the decreased driver expectancy for curvature with increasing tangent distance. However, increased inner-curve tangent distance was found to be associated with decreased crash occurrence. Lastly, the left-turning curves were found to be associated with greater crash occurrence than that on the right-turning curves.
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Title
COBALT REDOX MEDIATORS FOR DYE-SENSITIZED SOLAR CELLS
Creator
Raithel, Austin L.
Date
2022
Collection
Electronic Theses & Dissertations
Description
Dye-sensitized solar cells have become an affordable alternative to conventional photovoltaics.Their efficiencies have become competitive by continued optimization of the semiconductor, dye, redox shuttle, and counter electrode. This thesis will evaluate low-spin Co(II) redox shuttles’ ability to minimize photovoltage losses due to dye regeneration and recombination to semiconductor electrons. Their synthesis and properties will be described along with a comparison to typical high-spin Co(II)...
Show moreDye-sensitized solar cells have become an affordable alternative to conventional photovoltaics.Their efficiencies have become competitive by continued optimization of the semiconductor, dye, redox shuttle, and counter electrode. This thesis will evaluate low-spin Co(II) redox shuttles’ ability to minimize photovoltage losses due to dye regeneration and recombination to semiconductor electrons. Their synthesis and properties will be described along with a comparison to typical high-spin Co(II) redox shuttles. The kinetic properties will be evaluated in terms of Marcus Theory with a particular focus being made on reorganization energy and free energy of electron transfer events. Chapter 1 will describe the motivation for dye-sensitized solar cells along with a description of their development and operation. Chapter 2 and 3 will describe the two extremes of redox potential of the redox shuttle. Chapter 4 demonstrates a system with a tunable potential inbetween. Chapter 5 will report other redox shuttle candidates and future directions to surpass 15% power conversion efficiency with low-spin Co(II) redox shuttles.
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Title
CONTRIBUTIONS TO EPIDEMIOLOGICAL RESEARCH ON THE SELLING OF INTERNATIONALLY REGULATED DRUGS
Creator
Yuan, Sha
Date
2022
Collection
Electronic Theses & Dissertations
Description
The existing research on drug selling among teenagers is limited. A few research teams have studied aspects of adolescent drug dealing. The scope of research includes economic factors relaed to youths involved in drug gangs (Levitt & Venkatesh, 2000) as well as psychosocial factors that might prompt teenagers to sell drugs (Fagan J, 1990; Little & Steinberg, 2006). Few have thought about adolescent drug selling from an epidemiological perspective, with a conceptualization based on agent-host...
Show moreThe existing research on drug selling among teenagers is limited. A few research teams have studied aspects of adolescent drug dealing. The scope of research includes economic factors relaed to youths involved in drug gangs (Levitt & Venkatesh, 2000) as well as psychosocial factors that might prompt teenagers to sell drugs (Fagan J, 1990; Little & Steinberg, 2006). Few have thought about adolescent drug selling from an epidemiological perspective, with a conceptualization based on agent-host-environment triad models, and with attention to potential public health control methods required for effective interventions.An early contributor, Isidore Chein and his research team (1964) launched important psychosocial research on youthful drug selling. According to that research, adolescents involved in heroin use often conducted drug dealing. However, the samples were limited to male adolescents in New York City, and the data collection period was from 1949 to 1955. This doctoral dissertation research project builds upon progress made by Chein and his colleagues. It summarizes a set of studies of youthful drug selling that merit attention. The project then aims to contribute new epidemiological findings on adolescents selling internationally regulated drugs (IRD) such as cannabis and cocaine. From an epidemiologist’s point of view, a drug seller can be considered a vector in the person-to-person spread of drug involvement. For this reason, a comprehensive view of the epidemiology of drug involvement should not neglect drug selling. For this dissertation research project, I conducted four investigations with focus on the drug onset and drug selling experiences of 12-to-17-year-old adolescents in the United States community populations. The first investigation aims to estimate the age-specific prevalence of recent drug selling behaviors for the age period of 12 to 17 years, with attention to the following subgroups that Salas-Wright and colleagues (2017) recently identified as having a higher prevalence of drug selling in the non-institutionalized U.S. population: (a) males and (b) older adolescents. The second study aims to produce estimates concerning birth cohort variations in drug selling prevalence. The third study divides youths into three groups: “never used any IRD” group, “cannabis only at first IRD use” group, and “used a non-cannabis IRD with or without concurrent cannabis use at first IRD use” group. The investigation then turns to an estimation of the likelihood of being a seller of drugs in the past 12 months for each of these three groups, with attention to the duration of IRD use, The fourth study aims to compare non-users and users whose first drug is cannabis with respect to their odds of selling drugs in the second year after first drug use. The population under study was sampled for annual United States National Surveys of Drug Use and Health (NSDUH). The NSDUH sampled, recruited, and assessed non-institutionalized US civilian residents aged 12 and above each year. After Institutional Review Board-approved consent procedures, all participants were assessed using confidential audio computer-assisted self-interviews. There are cannabis and youth experience modules and modules on other drugs and health topics in the self-interview sessions. The findings of all the four studies in this dissertation are from statistical analyses of NSDUH public-use data files based on the survey questions in the aforementioned modules. The main findings and implications, summarized across the four research projects, are as follows: • Study 1: The estimated prevalence of drug selling increases with age during the adolescent years under study. The estimated prevalence for boys is larger than the corresponding estimates for girls. • Study 2: Estimated age-specific prevalence patterns do not vary appreciably across recent birth cohorts. The general pattern is one of cohort-specific increases in the odds of drug-selling from age 12 to age 17; estimates of 17-year olds are larger. • Study 3: Starting to use cannabis and no other IRD is associated with greater odds of drug selling in the subsequent adolescent years. The study estimates suggest that as time passes since first IRD use, the odds of drug selling increase (up to a point). If the first IRD use is not cannabis, then the estimated odds of drug selling may be larger than if cannabis is the only IRD that has been used. • Study 4: Adolescents who start to use cannabis but none of the other internationally regulated drugs are observed to be more likely to sell drugs in the second year after the first use, compared to adolescents who have never used any drug. Subject to limitations described in this dissertation report, these findings merit further investigation and attention in public health initiatives to prevent the person-to-person spread of drug use during adolescence. The dissertation research report also describes some future research directions that can build upon this project’s findings, which include future longitudinal and prospective investigations.
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Title
Quantum coherent transport phenomena in epitaxial halide perovskite thin films
Creator
Zhang, Liangji
Date
2022
Collection
Electronic Theses & Dissertations
Description
The subject of this dissertation is the experimental study of quantum coherent transport phenomena in epitaxial single-crystal halide perovskite thin films. The experiments consist of low-temperature (down to 10 mK) magnetotransport measurements at high magnetic field (up to 14 T).The recent advent of epitaxial thin film growth of inorganic halide perovskites has made it possible to investigate the quantum behavior of charge carriers in these materials in low-dimensional form. We present...
Show moreThe subject of this dissertation is the experimental study of quantum coherent transport phenomena in epitaxial single-crystal halide perovskite thin films. The experiments consist of low-temperature (down to 10 mK) magnetotransport measurements at high magnetic field (up to 14 T).The recent advent of epitaxial thin film growth of inorganic halide perovskites has made it possible to investigate the quantum behavior of charge carriers in these materials in low-dimensional form. We present results on epitaxial single-domain cesium tin iodide (CsSnI3) thin films that clearly demonstrate quantum transport in this material for the first time. The observed low-field magnetoresistance shows signatures of weak anti-localization (WAL) that reveals coherent quantum interference effects and spin-orbit coupling. A micron-scale (≈5 um) low-temperature phase coherence length for charge carriers in the system is extracted from these WAL measurements.Additionally, we present low-temperature quantum magnetotransport measurements on thin film devices made of epitaxial single-crystal CsSnBr3, which exhibit two-dimensional Mott variable range hopping (VRH) and a large negative magnetoresistance. These findings are described by the Nguyen-Spivak-Shkovskii (NSS) model for quantum interference between different directed hopping paths, and we extract the temperature-dependent hopping length of charge carriers, their localization length, and a lower bound for their phase coherence length of ~100 nm at low temperatures. These results from CsSnI3 and CsSnBr3 devices demonstrate that epitaxial halide perovskite devices are emerging as a material class for low-dimensional quantum coherent transport devices.In addition to the works that are described above, I have also been involved in several additional projects, such as experiments on low-dimensional electron systems and superconducting qubit experiments, which will not be described in this dissertation.
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Title
PUBERTAL DIFFERENCES IN THE EFFECTS OF PARENTING ON BINGE EATING RISK IN FEMALE PRE-ADOLESCENTS AND ADOLESCENTS
Creator
Anaya Maldonado, Carolina
Date
2022
Collection
Electronic Theses & Dissertations
Description
Puberty is a period of increased risk for the development of binge eating in female adolescents. Studies thus far have examined changes in genetic factors and personality characteristics that could contribute to increased risk, but none have examined parenting practices that are known to change across development and significantly contribute to youth outcomes (e.g., parent-child conflict, parental warmth, parental overprotection). The current study examines whether interactions between...
Show morePuberty is a period of increased risk for the development of binge eating in female adolescents. Studies thus far have examined changes in genetic factors and personality characteristics that could contribute to increased risk, but none have examined parenting practices that are known to change across development and significantly contribute to youth outcomes (e.g., parent-child conflict, parental warmth, parental overprotection). The current study examines whether interactions between puberty and parenting predict higher levels of binge eating symptoms during/after puberty in female youth. Analyses used cross-sectional data in a sample of 999 female youth (ages 8-16) and their parents from the Michigan State University Twin Registry. Youth provided ratings of binge eating, eating in the absence of hunger, emotional eating, perceived parental care and overprotection. and pubertal development. Both youth and parents provided ratings of parent-child conflict. Although higher levels of parental overprotection and conflict, and lower levels of parental care, significantly predicted all binge eating measures, none of the associations were significantly moderated by pubertal development or age. The quality of the parent-child relationship is significantly associated with binge eating in female pre-adolescents and adolescents regardless of developmental stage, highlighting the need for targeting harmful parenting strategies during adolescent eating disorder intervention.
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Title
PLANNING FOR AUTONOMY AND ELECTRIFICATION IN FUTURE TRANSPORTATION SYSTEMS
Creator
Singh, Harprinderjot
Date
2022
Collection
Electronic Theses & Dissertations
Description
Autonomous vehicles (AVs) and electric vehicles (EVs) will improve safety, mobility, roadway capacity and provide efficient driving, efficient use of travel time, and reduced emissions. However, these technologies affect vehicle miles traveled (VMT), travel time, ownership cost, and electric grid network. Shared mobility systems can ameliorate the high price of these technologies. However, the shared mobility system poses additional problems such as users’ waiting time, inconvenience, and...
Show moreAutonomous vehicles (AVs) and electric vehicles (EVs) will improve safety, mobility, roadway capacity and provide efficient driving, efficient use of travel time, and reduced emissions. However, these technologies affect vehicle miles traveled (VMT), travel time, ownership cost, and electric grid network. Shared mobility systems can ameliorate the high price of these technologies. However, the shared mobility system poses additional problems such as users’ waiting time, inconvenience, and increased VMT. Further, the impact of these emerging technologies varies on different groups of users (different values of travel time (VOTT). Another hurdle to the adoption of EVs is the limited range and scarcity of charging infrastructure. A well-established network of charging infrastructure, especially the direct current fast chargers (DCFC), can alleviate this challenge. However, the widespread adoption of EVs and the growing network of DCFC stations will increase the electric energy demand affecting the electric grid stability, demand-supply imbalance, overloading, and degradation of the electric grid components. Distributed energy resources (DER) such as solar panels and energy storage systems (ESS) can support the EV demand and reduce the load on the electric grid. This study develops modeling frameworks for the optimal adoption of AVs and EVs, considering their effect on transportation systems, the environment, and the electric grid network. Further, it suggests different scenarios that would promote the adoption of these technologies and provide a sustainable and resilient system.This study proposes a multi-objective mathematical model to estimate the optimal fleet configuration in a system of private manual-driven vehicles (PMVs), private AVs (PAVs), and shared AVs (SAVs) while minimizing the purchase and operating costs, time (travel and waiting time), and emission production. SAVs can be the optimal solution with the efficient use of travel time or the purchase price below a certain relative threshold. PAVs can be the optimal solution only if the onboard amenities are improved, lifetime mileage is increased, AV technology is installed in luxurious cars, and adopted by people with high VOTT. The framework is extended to consider different combinations of EVs, AVs, and conventional human-driven vehicles in a private and shared mobility system. The metaheuristics based on genetic and simulated annealing algorithms are developed to solve the large-scale NP-hard nonlinear optimization problem. The model is implemented for the network of Ann Arbor, Michigan. The results suggest that EVs are optimal for the system due to low operating costs and zero tailpipe emissions. Shared autonomous electric vehicles (SAEVs) are the best option for users with low VOTT. Private autonomous electric vehicles (PAEVs) would favor the system if the travel time savings are at least 20% or the price of AV technology is less than one-third of the vehicle price. The study then investigates the optimum investment technology to support the rising energy demand at the DCFC stations and reduce the load on the electric grid network. The different investments include purchasing and installing various ESS (new batteries (NB), second-life batteries (SLB), flywheels), solar panels, electric grid upgrades, and the cost of buying/selling electricity from/to the electric grid. The model is implemented for the DCFC stations supporting the future needs of EV charging demand for urban trips in the major cities of Michigan in 2030. The combination of SLBs and solar panels provides maximum benefits. The total annual and electricity savings are $25,000-$165,000 and $40,000-$300,000 per city.
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Title
DESIGNING DECLINE : THE RECLAMATION OF AN INDUSTRIAL SITE AND THE DESIGN IMPACTS ON ENVIRONMENTAL, SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC RESILIENCE
Creator
Shevela, Brooke
Date
2022
Collection
Electronic Theses & Dissertations
Description
The abandoned industrial crisis in Michigan, USA calls for the redevelopment of abandoned industrial site areas into functioning public spaces. These neglected spaces develop negative impacts on the surrounding communities regarding aesthetic, safety, economic, and environmental issues. The purpose of this study is to examine the redevelopment of an underused site, especially featuring an industrial site element, and the effects on the nearby community by applying quantitative measures. The...
Show moreThe abandoned industrial crisis in Michigan, USA calls for the redevelopment of abandoned industrial site areas into functioning public spaces. These neglected spaces develop negative impacts on the surrounding communities regarding aesthetic, safety, economic, and environmental issues. The purpose of this study is to examine the redevelopment of an underused site, especially featuring an industrial site element, and the effects on the nearby community by applying quantitative measures. The Michigan Central Station in Detroit, Michigan, USA was selected as a case study. Landscape performance research was applied to quantitively analyze the environmental, social and economic benefits of reclaiming abandoned industrial sites and their inner elements. In this research, findings showed the case study redesign resulted in positive environmental impacts. These impacts included: expanded areas of ecologically valuable land, increases in carbon sequestration, increases in retained stormwater, the use of recycled content and reductions in sulfur dioxide. The case study redevelopment showed impacts on the surrounding economics through savings on water treatment cost through stormwater retention, increases in property values, and job creation. Furthermore, the redesign also impacted social aspects for the surrounding areas including increases in the area of proposed gathering space, safety enhancements, additions of sidewalks and bike lanes, and increases in the area of public open space. In addition, the major findings support the benefits of public physical health by promoting outdoor activities. The findings of this study will help designers and urban planners to see the value in reusing existing industrial sites instead of undergoing the harmful demolition process and eventually lead to a more sustainable community design.
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Title
Teaching Presence in a Fully Online Asynchronous Undergraduate Mathematics Course and its Impact on Social and Cognitive Presence
Creator
Elmore, Robert Andrew
Date
2022
Collection
Electronic Theses & Dissertations
Description
The number of fully online asynchronous undergraduate mathematics courses is growing rapidly, making it imperative that the instructional choices that are chosen by instructors and their effects on students’ opportunities to learn in the online learning environment be further explored. Therefore, this research aims to understand instructors' choices when teaching an online undergraduate mathematics course, and how these decisions impact students' communication opportunities. This research...
Show moreThe number of fully online asynchronous undergraduate mathematics courses is growing rapidly, making it imperative that the instructional choices that are chosen by instructors and their effects on students’ opportunities to learn in the online learning environment be further explored. Therefore, this research aims to understand instructors' choices when teaching an online undergraduate mathematics course, and how these decisions impact students' communication opportunities. This research organized the instructors' decisions and their impacts on students using the community of inquiry framework. The three categories of the community of inquiry framework, teaching presence, social presence, and cognitive presence, were analyzed through course artifacts, an instructor interview, student interviews, student surveys, and course usage data. The primary analysis was performed using the interviews with the other data sources providing further detail and explanation. Four claims were generated while analyzing these data sources. Claim one posits that students tend to have singular preferences of the course’s direct instructional elements. Claim 2 proffers that students who chose to work with others report having positive experiences, and those who decided not to work with others report not needing help, with one exception. Claim 3 states that meaningful contact points can be created between the instructor and student using surveys and personalized mass emails; however, most describe learning mathematics in Math 101 as not making them feel a part of a learning community. And claim 4 posits that elements of the teaching presence were more likely to foster participation if they were associated with a grade. The results of this study have implications for both the research and practice communities. The current study’s results imply that—even though sizes of online mathematics classes may still grow—there are ways instructors can facilitate high levels of social processes using mass email, surveys, cooperative learning groups, and other online tools. These specific tools should be studied and evaluated for their effects on social presence and cognitive presence on the mass scale. The present study suggests four specific things that instructors should familiarize themselves with that are available today, (a) prescribe opportunities for students to communicate with each other such as having assignments that are completed in cooperative learning groups, (b) communicate with your students through personalized means (e.g., emails, surveys, and Zoom sessions), (c) use feedback from surveys to inform your future teaching practice, and (d) ensure that students observe your communication and direct instruction by tying them to elements associated with grades. Keywords: teaching presence, social presence, cognitive presence, online mathematics learning.
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Title
DO INTERFACES MATTER? A REEXAMINATION OF XBRL USING FINANCIAL STATEMENT ACQUISITION AND MARKET ACTIVITY
Creator
Anderson, James J.
Date
2022
Collection
Electronic Theses & Dissertations
Description
Starting in 2009 the eXtensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL) standard was mandated for financial statements by the SEC. The XBRL standard was intended to encourage less-sophisticated trader disclosure processing; however, previous literature has conjectured that the standard primarily aided more-sophisticated traders’ disclosure processing. I reexamine the effect of XBRL on more- and less-sophisticated trader disclosure processing by testing whether XBRL influenced their information...
Show moreStarting in 2009 the eXtensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL) standard was mandated for financial statements by the SEC. The XBRL standard was intended to encourage less-sophisticated trader disclosure processing; however, previous literature has conjectured that the standard primarily aided more-sophisticated traders’ disclosure processing. I reexamine the effect of XBRL on more- and less-sophisticated trader disclosure processing by testing whether XBRL influenced their information acquisition and testing whether the proportional relationship between information acquisition and market activity is different for more- and less-sophisticated traders. I find the staggered implementation of XBRL is associated with a 49% (26%) increase in less (more) sophisticated trader information acquisition. Next, I find the proportional relationship between information acquisition and market activity is greater for less-sophisticated traders when compared to more-sophisticated traders. Specifically, I find information acquisition for less-sophisticated traders has a greater proportional relationship with abnormal price movement, abnormal trading volume, and abnormal bid-ask spreads. Together these findings suggest that XBRL did not provide a disproportionate information advantage to more-sophisticated traders, but rather benefited less-sophisticated traders by decreasing their information acquisition costs.
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Title
QUALITY OF LIFE IN CONTEMPORARY NEIGHBORHOOD DESIGN INITIATIVES : AN EMPIRICAL STUDY TO ASSESS QUALITY OF LIFE THROUGH SPATIAL DIMENSION IN NEW URBANIST AND LEED-ND CERTIFIED NEIGHBORHOODS
Creator
Shaaban, Amal Hamdy
Date
2022
Collection
Electronic Theses & Dissertations
Description
The overarching purpose of this study is to analyze qualitatively and quantitatively the spatial characteristics of two types of neighborhoods, namely New Urbanist (NU) neighborhoods and Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certified neighborhoods. LEED certified neighborhoods are commonly referred to as LEED for Neighborhood Development (LEED-ND). In this research study, the spatial quality of these two types of neighborhoods was examined through assessing the quality of five...
Show moreThe overarching purpose of this study is to analyze qualitatively and quantitatively the spatial characteristics of two types of neighborhoods, namely New Urbanist (NU) neighborhoods and Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certified neighborhoods. LEED certified neighborhoods are commonly referred to as LEED for Neighborhood Development (LEED-ND). In this research study, the spatial quality of these two types of neighborhoods was examined through assessing the quality of five dimensions of a neighborhood’s urban form, which are: safety, comfort, connectivity, place making and aesthetic quality. Three types of neighborhoods were selected and examined using two main analytical tools: neighborhood scorecard, and residents’ survey. Two neighborhoods were selected to examine NU neighborhoods in Michigan in the United States, which are Cherry Hill Village (CHV) a greenfield residential development, and Mason Run (MR) a brownfield residential development. The third neighborhood was selected to examine LEED-ND certified neighborhoods, which is Saint Luke (SL) neighborhood in Ohio in the United States. The neighborhood scorecard included a total of 150 design guidelines that yield better Quality of Life (QoL) in residential developments through urban form. The residents’ survey included a set of questions that examined the residents’ perceptions regarding the five physical characteristics necessary to yield better QoL. A total of 154 surveys were collected for data analysis that used one-way ANOVA tests, Tukey’s post-hoc tests, and multiple regression models. The major findings from the neighborhood scorecard are that CHV neighborhood provides was safer than the brownfield NU residential development and the LEED-ND certified neighborhood. Both NU neighborhoods provided more comfortable environments of their residents to live in more than the LEED-ND certified neighborhood. The greenfield NU neighborhood earned more points than the other two neighborhoods in terms of the internal and external connectivity degree of the neighborhood. In terms of fulfilling the recommended design guidelines for place making and aesthetic quality, again the Greenfield NU neighborhood had earned higher points than the other two neighborhoods. The major findings from the survey are: Survey participants living in both NU neighborhoods were more satisfied with their QoL more than the participants living in the LEED-ND certified neighborhood. Also, respondents living in NU neighborhoods perceived their neighborhoods as safer places to live in more than participants living in the LEED-ND certified neighborhood. On the other hand, respondents living in the NU brownfield development perceived their neighborhood as the least comfortable neighborhood. In terms of the internal connectivity of the neighborhood, respondents living in NU greenfield development identified the internal connectivity of their neighborhood as the highest compared to the other two neighborhoods. On the other hand, the perception of the internal connectivity perception was the lowest amongst respondents living in the LEED-ND certified neighborhood. Respondents living in the LEED-ND certified neighborhood had the highest mean in terms of their perceptions of sense of belonging. On the other hand, respondents living in the NU brownfield development had the lowest mean in terms of their perception of sense of belonging. The perception of the aesthetic quality of the neighborhood was the highest among respondents living in the NU greenfield development. On the other hand, the perception of aesthetic quality of the neighborhood was the least among respondents living in NU brownfield development.This research study concludes by suggesting recommendations to improve the principles and design guidelines of NU and LEED-ND certified neighborhoods to achieve better QoL. The recommendations suggest emphasizing certain spatial characteristics that yield better QoL in Greenfield, and brownfield residential developments.
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Title
Mechanisms underlying Binocular Rivalry
Creator
Jagtap, Abhilasha R.
Date
2022
Collection
Electronic Theses & Dissertations
Description
When observers view a perceptually bistable stimulus, their perception changes stochastically. Various studies have shown across-observer correlations in the percept durations for different bistable stimuli including Necker cube, binocular rivalry (BR) and bistable moving plaids (MP), which suggests a shared mechanism underlying perception in these paradigms. In this project we explore such shared mechanisms by examining what determines whether a given set of bistable perception paradigms...
Show moreWhen observers view a perceptually bistable stimulus, their perception changes stochastically. Various studies have shown across-observer correlations in the percept durations for different bistable stimuli including Necker cube, binocular rivalry (BR) and bistable moving plaids (MP), which suggests a shared mechanism underlying perception in these paradigms. In this project we explore such shared mechanisms by examining what determines whether a given set of bistable perception paradigms will exhibit correlations in percept durations, and also by examining correlations with other perceptual phenomena that do not directly involve bistability. In our first experiment, we hypothesize that the presence or absence of a certain type of motion can influence whether different bistable paradigms will exhibit correlated percept durations. We found that the correlations between some bistable stimuli are strong, but others are fragile and inconsistent, which prevents us from drawing direct conclusions. In the second experiment, we examine whether between-observer variability in cortical inhibition underlies correlated percept durations between binocular rivalry and bistable moving plaid perception. As a behavioral measure of cortical inhibition, we used center-surround suppression of perceived contrast. While we were able to successfully replicate the correlations between bistable paradigms, there was no correlation between center-surround suppression strength and percept durations for any bistable paradigm. Moreover, the results from a mediation analysis indicate that center-surround suppression is not the mediating factor in the correlation between BR and MP, suggesting that cortical inhibition cannot explain the correlation between various bistable paradigms.
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Title
IMPACTS OF DISTANT DRIVERS ON LANDSCAPES AND BIODIVERSITY
Creator
Hovis, Ciara Layne
Date
2022
Collection
Electronic Theses & Dissertations
Description
Global biodiversity is increasingly impacted by distant drivers. With societies more connected than ever before, natural resource consumption has expanded beyond administrative and political boundaries. International food trade in particular has profound impacts on land-use and socioeconomic and environmental outcomes. At the same time, global biodiversity is threatened at an unprecedented scale, with many of the causes obfuscated by complexities of distant, interacting socioecological...
Show moreGlobal biodiversity is increasingly impacted by distant drivers. With societies more connected than ever before, natural resource consumption has expanded beyond administrative and political boundaries. International food trade in particular has profound impacts on land-use and socioeconomic and environmental outcomes. At the same time, global biodiversity is threatened at an unprecedented scale, with many of the causes obfuscated by complexities of distant, interacting socioecological systems. Understanding the ultimate drivers of biodiversity change and translating them to local biodiversity outcomes is integral to addressing conservation challenges in the age of globalization. This dissertation analyzes the impacts of international trade on biodiversity in an agroecosystem undergoing land-use change driven by global markets. Chapter 1 provides background on the study region, Heilongjiang Province, and describes disruption of soybean production in the area due to changes in global trade. Chapter 2 is a systematic review of studies on distant drivers of biodiversity change. Across all taxa, harmful impacts on biodiversity were the most frequent outcome reported, with distant impacts of trade and tourism most frequently studied. In Chapter 3, satellite imagery was classified into landcover classes to create high-fidelity maps of the agriculture-dominated study landscape. By utilizing phenological, synthetic aperture radar, and vegetation/soil index data, accuracies of 91%- 80% were achieved. In Chapter 4 these landcover maps were used to calculate landscape metrics. These metrics were then used to analyze relationships between landscape structure (i.e., composition and configuration) and bird communities. Functional biodiversity indices derived from life history and morphological traits were examined in addition to taxonomic measures. Though no discernable differences between taxonomic and functional community metrics were observed, several significant relationships between landscape structure and biodiversity metrics were found. Crop diversity, natural landcover, and edge metrics, were positively correlated with bird richness. Aggregation of patches, corn area, and soybean area were negatively correlated. We also compared landscape structure and biodiversity between two regions impacted by global soybean trade. Despite the more impacted region having lower crop diversity and natural area, there was no difference in biodiversity between the two regions. The more impacted region also had more rice area, demonstrating that negative biodiversity impacts may be mitigated by rice cultivation. Chapter 5 built on the previous chapter by modeling bird occupancy to assess species-specific relationships with landscape structure. Results indicated that increased crop diversity significantly increased occupancy of birds at both the taxonomic and functional level, particularly for birds belonging to less common functional groups. Percentage of natural area was not as important as expected, while metrics related to landscape configuration had very few significant impacts on occupancy. Increases in rice area were not as detrimental to bird occupancy as increases in corn and soybean. In fact, soybean area exhibited more significant negative relationships with bird occurrence than corn, suggesting that decreases in soybean area due to global trade may have benefitted bird biodiversity in the case of a monocultural landscape. However, due to the prevalence of small-scale farming practices, the more likely outcome would be a decrease in crop diversity due to soybean fields being converted to more profitable crops (e.g., corn, rice). By linking global trade, changes in landcover/use, landscape structure, and local bird communities in the same context, the results of this dissertation highlight the need for integrated biodiversity studies that place ecosystems in the broader context of globalization.
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Title
A CASE STUDY EXPLORING HOW K-12 STUDENTS LEARN TO USE SOCIAL MEDIA FOR CIVIC GOOD
Creator
Askari, Emilia Shirin
Date
2022
Collection
Electronic Theses & Dissertations
Description
This case study explores what K-12 students learn from a 13-week class activity about attracting attention to civic issues on social media. This research responds to calls by scholars of civic education to expand notions of civic engagement and digital citizenship, which often have focused on urging students to protect their reputations in digital spaces. In contrast, the learning activity examined here encourages community-oriented digital citizenship, preparing students to inform and...
Show moreThis case study explores what K-12 students learn from a 13-week class activity about attracting attention to civic issues on social media. This research responds to calls by scholars of civic education to expand notions of civic engagement and digital citizenship, which often have focused on urging students to protect their reputations in digital spaces. In contrast, the learning activity examined here encourages community-oriented digital citizenship, preparing students to inform and possibly empower social change. This study is grounded in Cognitive Flexibility Theory, which focuses on learning in ill-structured domains such as public social media. Further, the study builds on the increasingly popular idea of the Fifth Estate, which posits that people acting in civic ways in public spaces can be a powerful check on government, playing a role similar to that of journalism institutions, sometimes referred to as the Fourth Estate. Data collected in this study included a pre-survey, a written reflection and post interviews with 4 students as well as artifacts such as social media posts. Students employed two main strategies to draw attention to civic issues on social media: audience-signaling and networking. Further, students learned to seek credible and diverse information using class accounts on TikTok, Instagram, and Twitter. Finally, students offered definitions of digital citizenship and shared thoughts about how schools should teach it via social media. This study fills a gap in the research literature about K-12 teaching with social media; few prior studies take advantage of social media’s affordance as a bridge between the classroom and communities outside the school. This study also illuminates learning as schools globally moved online in response to the pandemic.
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Title
SOCIAL DETERMINANTS OF BREASTFEEDING : THE ROLE OF PRENATAL FOOD INSECURITY
Creator
Robinson, Chelsea
Date
2022
Collection
Electronic Theses & Dissertations
Description
Background: Relatively little work has quantified associations between prenatal food insecurity and breastfeeding practices; however, understanding the implications of prenatal food insecurity may support food insecurity screening recommendations during prenatal care. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to investigate associations between prenatal food insecurity and breastfeeding initiation and duration until 3 months postpartum. Method: This study utilized data from a prospective...
Show moreBackground: Relatively little work has quantified associations between prenatal food insecurity and breastfeeding practices; however, understanding the implications of prenatal food insecurity may support food insecurity screening recommendations during prenatal care. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to investigate associations between prenatal food insecurity and breastfeeding initiation and duration until 3 months postpartum. Method: This study utilized data from a prospective Michigan pregnancy cohort. Women were recruited during their first prenatal visit with planned follow-up through early childhood. Prenatal food insecurity was assessed during pregnancy, and breastfeeding initiation and duration were assessed at the 3-month postpartum visit. Multiple logistic regression models were used to evaluate associations between prenatal food insecurity and the two primary outcomes: breastfeeding initiation and breastfeeding status at 3-months postpartum. Cox proportional hazard ratios were used to assess differences in the risk of breastfeeding cessation until 3 months postpartum by food insecurity status. An adversity index was created to stratify women into higher- and lower-risk groups for not breastfeeding. Associations between food insecurity and breastfeeding at 3 months postpartum (yes/no) were assessed via Fisher’s Exact test within each group. Results: In the unadjusted models, women who reported food insecurity during pregnancy were less likely to initiate breastfeeding (OR = 0.39; 95% CI: 0.21-0.69) and continue breastfeeding until 3 months postpartum (OR = 0.35; 95% CI: 0.20-0.61) compared to food secure women, but the associations were no longer significant after adjustment for sociodemographic and health-related factors. Prenatal food insecurity was not associated with breastfeeding at 3 months postpartum in analyses stratified into high- and low-adversity groups. Conclusions: Prenatal food insecurity is a strong predictor of breastfeeding practices. Though not significantly associated with breastfeeding practices after adjustment, screening for prenatal food insecurity may help clinicians identify women who may need more supports to initiate and maintain breastfeeding.
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Title
MENTAL HEALTH AND THE URBAN ENVIRONMENT : A BIBLIOMETRIC MAPPING OF KNOWLEDGE STRUCTURE AND TRENDS
Creator
Van Winkle, Taylor
Date
2022
Collection
Electronic Theses & Dissertations
Description
The literature on the urban environment, health, and well-being has steadily increased over the last decade. This paper aims to offer a better understanding of the state of the literature on assessing the urban environment and health through mapping the field of research through a scoping review and illuminating emerging trends and future research using keyword frequency and bibliometric analysis. Uniquely, this study drew 495 articles from four distinct journal databases (PubMed, Scopus, Web...
Show moreThe literature on the urban environment, health, and well-being has steadily increased over the last decade. This paper aims to offer a better understanding of the state of the literature on assessing the urban environment and health through mapping the field of research through a scoping review and illuminating emerging trends and future research using keyword frequency and bibliometric analysis. Uniquely, this study drew 495 articles from four distinct journal databases (PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, and ProQuest), whereas traditional bibliometric analyses draw from a single source. By drawing from a broader base of knowledge, this study offers a more holistic view of the trends in the field of research on the connection between urban environments and well-being to better identify future research pathways. The results show trends of a consistent increase in research on the topic over the last decade. Research published on this topic is fragmented, with consistent but isolated focus on physical health, mental health, and environmental characteristics. Overall, in this field, physical health is most often assessed in relationship to the urban built environment, while mental health is most often assessed in connection to the urban natural environment. This paper also provides information on influential authors in this field of research. This study concludes by highlighting gaps and making recommendations for future research in the field. Prominent gaps are related to using interdisciplinary and scalable approaches to understanding the relationship between urban environments and overall well-being.
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Title
TEMPORAL LINKAGES BETWEEN NEARSHORE BATHYMETRY, SHORE ICE MORPHOLOGY, AND GEOMORPHIC CHANGE ALONG A COLD-CLIMATE COASTLINE
Creator
Hartley, Brittany M.
Date
2022
Collection
Electronic Theses & Dissertations
Description
The nearshore ice complex (NIC) though previously studied, has given researchers muddled conclusions when studies are compared, as the documented morphological response to ice presence has been varied. This blurriness of understanding promoted the opportunity for research, and with the availability of new and improved technology, an opportunity for high accuracy analysis also arises. This study showed that ice ridge location corresponded to the bar and trough system in lakebed morphology,...
Show moreThe nearshore ice complex (NIC) though previously studied, has given researchers muddled conclusions when studies are compared, as the documented morphological response to ice presence has been varied. This blurriness of understanding promoted the opportunity for research, and with the availability of new and improved technology, an opportunity for high accuracy analysis also arises. This study showed that ice ridge location corresponded to the bar and trough system in lakebed morphology, rather than just a nearshore bar or trough. Along with that, the ice presence lowered the overall elevation of the lakebed profile, and this promoted erosion throughout the remainder of the study period. During the entirety of the research study period, the most change that was documented was found between August and November 2020 due to a large, recoded storm event that moved through the study location.
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Title
THE EFFECTS OF MEDIUM AND LARGE-SCALE FARMS ON YOUNG PEOPLE’S EMPLOYMENT IN AGRICULTURE : EVIDENCE FROM TANZANIA
Creator
Samboko, Paul C.
Date
2022
Collection
Electronic Theses & Dissertations
Description
There is limited empirical evidence on how the growth of large- and medium-scale farms is affecting employment outcomes across the whole agricultural sector in developing countries, and especially among young people (age 15-35 years). A priori, it is impossible to determine how medium- and large-scale farms affect employment for young people in agriculture. Using employment data for young people in Tanzania, this study examines whether increases in the region-level share of cropping...
Show moreThere is limited empirical evidence on how the growth of large- and medium-scale farms is affecting employment outcomes across the whole agricultural sector in developing countries, and especially among young people (age 15-35 years). A priori, it is impossible to determine how medium- and large-scale farms affect employment for young people in agriculture. Using employment data for young people in Tanzania, this study examines whether increases in the region-level share of cropping households that are medium- and large-scale farms (MLSFs) improve or worsen agricultural employment outcomes for young people. The outcomes include: (i) employment in crop/livestock production on own farm; (ii) self-employment in agribusiness activities and (iv) employment in agriculture via any of the first three categories above.Correlated random effects probit model results suggest that the growth of medium-scale farms is associated with reductions in the participation of young people in the production of crops/livestock on their own or their family’s farms. It is also associated with a reduction in the employment of young people in the agricultural sector overall. The growth of large-scale farms is associated with an increase in self-employment in agriculture by young people. The government needs to be cognizant of the effects of different farm sizes on employment. Medium-scale farms may not be an avenue to improve young people’s involvement in agriculture. However, large-scale farm expansion may improve young adult’s employment in agricultural employment
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Title
Examining an Important Assumption in the Faultline Literature
Creator
Guo, Zhiya
Date
2022
Collection
Electronic Theses & Dissertations
Description
Group faultlines are defined as hypothetical dividing lines that split a team into subgroups based on the alignment of team members’ attributes. Prior faultline research has almost exclusively focused on the implications of between-subgroup relationships assuming that “team members form homophilous ties on either side of a faultline by associating with others in the team who have similar demographic attributes” (Ren et al., 2015, p. 390). However, this important assumption has not been tested...
Show moreGroup faultlines are defined as hypothetical dividing lines that split a team into subgroups based on the alignment of team members’ attributes. Prior faultline research has almost exclusively focused on the implications of between-subgroup relationships assuming that “team members form homophilous ties on either side of a faultline by associating with others in the team who have similar demographic attributes” (Ren et al., 2015, p. 390). However, this important assumption has not been tested. Drawing from social comparison theory and its “similarity hypothesis,” I argue that homogeneous, faultline-based subgroups may serve as a hotbed for social comparisons, and comparisons on social power can engender conflict under certain circumstances, triggering within-subgroup conflict. More specifically, consistent with the emerging research that recognizes different types of group faultlines, I outlined a) different dimensions that different faultline-based subgroups are more likely to compare and b) the downstream effects of these comparisons. Hypotheses were tested using multi-wave, round-robin data from multiple intact work teams of full-time employees. Results largely supported my predictions regarding knowledge-based subgroups but not so much for identity-based subgroups or resource-based subgroups. Implications and future directions are discussed.
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Title
PALETTEVIZ : A METHOD FOR VISUALIZATION OF HIGH-DIMENSIONAL PARETO-OPTIMAL FRONT AND ITS APPLICATIONS TO MULTI-CRITERIA DECISION MAKING AND ANALYSIS
Creator
Talukder, AKM Khaled Ahsan
Date
2022
Collection
Electronic Theses & Dissertations
Description
Visual representation of a many-objective Pareto-optimal front in four or more dimensional objective space requires a large number of data points. Moreover, choosing a single point from a large set even with certain preference information is problematic, as it imposes a large cognitive burden on the decision-makers. Therefore, many-objective optimization and decision-making practitioners have been interested in effective visualization methods to en- able them to filter down a large set to a...
Show moreVisual representation of a many-objective Pareto-optimal front in four or more dimensional objective space requires a large number of data points. Moreover, choosing a single point from a large set even with certain preference information is problematic, as it imposes a large cognitive burden on the decision-makers. Therefore, many-objective optimization and decision-making practitioners have been interested in effective visualization methods to en- able them to filter down a large set to a few critical points for further analysis. Most existing visualization methods are borrowed from other data analytics domains and they are too generic to be effective for many-criterion decision making. In this dissertation, we propose a visualization method, using star-coordinate and radial visualization plots, for effectively visualizing many-objective trade-off solutions. The proposed method respects some basic topological, geometric and functional decision-making properties of high-dimensional trade- off points mapped to a three-dimensional space. We call this method Palette Visualization (PaletteViz). We demonstrate the use of PaletteViz on a number of large-dimensional multi- objective optimization test problems and three real-world multi-objective problems, where one of them has 10 objective and 16 constraint functions. We also show the uses of NIMBUS and Pareto-Race concepts from canonical multi-criterion decision making and analysis literature and introduce them into PaletteViz to demonstrate the ease and advantage of the proposed method.
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