Browse
Recent Submissions
Item Open Access Facilitating Transformative Experiences with Flow in Early Childhood Educators(2024-12-13) Chester, Shaylee; Dewhirst, Courtney; Heddy, Benjamin; Casey, Erin; Libby, EthridgeEarly childhood educators play an integral role in establishing a solid foundation for learning in young children. Teachers today are questioning their expectations of adhering to the developmentally inappropriate high-stakes accountability, which includes a multiplicity of externally controlled standards and regulations that dictate what must be implemented in the early childhood classroom setting. These well-trained professionals face a professional identity crisis, often going against their pedagogical beliefs. This crisis has engendered a complex range of emotions experienced by educators today. The ramifications of this systemic pressure have radically impacted how early childhood educators conduct themselves in the classroom. The intense emotions experienced by teachers have devastatingly impacted the education realm, as teachers experience extreme stress and burnout, resulting in many electing to exit the profession. The core of establishing a solid foundation for learning in young children is the mental health and well-being of the educator. This mixed-methods study proved that a shift in perspective regarding daily encounters in life poses excellent potential to impact teachers’ outlooks on positively and negatively viewed exchanges with their environments. Facilitating transformative experiences with the motivational concept of flow, the focus of this study, showed great promise to enable teachers to view life exchanges differently than they ever had before, potentially counteracting negative emotions. During this study, participants attended a 45-minute intervention meeting where they were introduced to the concept of flow, transformative experience, and TE with flow. They were then challenged to notice flow and journal the experiences. Analysis was completed on a one-group pre-and-post-test administration of the transformative experience measurement, along with analysis of NCV journal entries collected over the course of five weeks. As a result of rigorous data analysis, themes from experience conveyed throughout the journals emerged to explain the impact of transformative experiences with flow on early childhood educators’ lives. Findings suggest that within the three characteristics of transformative experience, there is an assortment of positive outcomes for early childhood educators. This study is significant in that it reports research-based outcomes that have the potential to impact how early childhood educators encounter life, both personally and professionally.Item Restricted Modeling Proppant Transport in Hydraulic Fractures and Fracture Networks: Applications in Petroleum and Geothermal Reservoir Development(2024) Liu, Baohua; Ghassemi, Ahmad; Carpenter, Brett M.; Fahes, Mashhad; Nygaard, Runar; Wu, XingruEffective proppant placement in hydraulic fractures and fracture networks is crucial for optimizing hydrocarbon extraction in both conventional and unconventional petroleum reservoirs. It also plays a key role in enhancing the efficiency of enhanced geothermal systems (EGS) in geothermal reservoirs. This dissertation presents a comprehensive study on modeling proppant transport in hydraulic fractures and fracture networks. The research aims to develop advanced computational models to simulate and investigate proppant placement under various geological and operational conditions. The study integrates multiple physical processes, including fracture deformation, slurry flow, proppant transport, and heat transfer, within a unified simulation environment. Different numerical methods are employed to address the complexities of this multi-physics system. A three-dimensional displacement discontinuity method (3D DDM) is used to model rock and fracture deformation, while the finite volume method (FVM) is applied to simulate slurry flow, proppant transport, and heat transfer. Special attention is given to the impact of thermal effects, the influence of fracture intersections, and the role of the fracture closure process in shaping proppant transport and distribution. Simulation results illustrate how various parameters, such as reservoir temperature, proppant size, density, injection concentration, and pumping rate, affect the distribution of proppant in hydraulic fractures and fracture networks. Key findings reveal that the final proppant distribution and fracture conductivity are influenced by proppant and fluid properties, reservoir characteristics, and operational parameters. Optimizing proppant placement in hydraulic fractures or fracture networks requires a comprehensive consideration of these factors. The implications of this research extend to both the petroleum and geothermal industries, providing a robust tool for designing more effective hydraulic fracturing treatments. This dissertation contributes to the field by offering a deeper understanding of proppant transport dynamics and introducing a versatile modeling approach that can be adapted to various situations.Item Open Access Improving Radar Sensing Capabilities and Data Quality Through Machine Learning(2024-12-13) Amaireh, Anas; Zhang, Yan; Homeyer, Cameron; Schvartzman, David; Cheng, Samuel; Ebert, DavidThis dissertation integrates advanced machine learning (ML) techniques with radar technology to address significant challenges in atmospheric sciences, cloud profiling, and aviation safety. It aims to enhance the accuracy and reliability of radar-based measurements, improve the prediction of atmospheric relative humidity and Cloud Liquid Water Content (CLWC), and mitigate the impact of 5G interference on radar altimeters. These improvements are essential for advancing public safety, weather forecasting, and aviation technology. Chapter 2 provides a comprehensive overview of ML, detailing its history, evolution, and significance in scientific research. It introduces supervised, unsupervised, and reinforcement learning, and discusses various ML models, such as regression and classification, establishing a foundation for integrating ML with radar technology. Chapter 3 introduces a method for estimating atmospheric relative humidity using wind profiler radar and a cascaded ML algorithm. Unlike existing methods, this approach uses only moment data to generate an intermediate pressure profile, serving as training data for humidity estimations without requiring temperature as an input feature. The study evaluates various ML algorithms using radiosonde data from the Hong Kong Observatory, demonstrating the effectiveness of this simplified, feature-efficient model. Chapter 4 uses ML techniques to enhance Cloud Liquid Water Content (CLWC) profiling. The study cross-validates ERA5 data with high-precision radiosonde observations from Hong Kong. It employs ML to interpolate radiosonde data to improve coverage and resolution, and uses a metaheuristic algorithm to cleanse data. This enhances the correlation between input features and CLWC. The results show significant improvements in the accuracy and reliability of CLWC profile prediction. Chapter 5 addresses the critical issue of 5G interference with radar altimeter signals, which is crucial for aviation safety. A new ML framework is developed to classify signals into pure or interfered categories and predict altitudes when interference is detected. The study employs real 5G signals from a base station in Norman, Oklahoma, and emulated radar signals to train and test the framework. This approach ensures the accuracy of radar altimeters despite the level of 5G interference. This dissertation demonstrates the transformative potential of integrating ML techniques with radar technology. The proposed solutions enhance radar sensing capabilities and data quality, significantly improving public safety, weather forecasting, and aviation.Item Open Access Identification and Verification of Mesoscale Convective Systems in the Models of the High Resolution Ensemble Forecast System(2024-12-13) Milne, Jeffrey; Brooks, Harold; Cavallo, Steven; Hitchcock, Stacey; Homeyer, Cameron; Marsh, Patrick; McPherson, ReneeTo better understand the characteristics of storms produced by forecast models and those seen in observations, contiguous and nearly contiguous radar objects with reflectivity above a convective threshold were identified and their shapes analyzed. The area, aspect ratio, orientation angle and maximum reflectivity within the object were calculated. For all members of the High Resolution Ensemble Forecast system, the modeled and observed storm objects had similar distributions in area-aspect ratio space. Modeled storm objects had a preferred band of maximum reflectivity that was not seen in the observed storm objects. The modeled storm objects also had a more north-south orientation than observed. Despite these differences, the shape characteristics of the modeled storm objects were still close enough to modeled storm objects to proceed with the creation of an MCS identification and tracking algorithm. The identification algorithm was based on one developed for MCS identification and tracking of observed storms at the NOAA Storm Prediction Center. A novel tracking algorithm was developed based on continuous swaths of maximum reflectivity and tuned to match expert labeling. Together, the identification and tracking algorithm produced a one year spatial distribution of MCSs that was somewhat consistent with an observed climatology. Additional verification of the identification and tracking algorithm revealed an underforecast from all of the models. At both the diurnal and annual scale, the models generally did not match the shape of the observed distribution. Matching the forecast MCSs with observed MCSs further showed low bias, though the forecasts did have very low FAR. The tuned parameters did not necessarily improve the forecast compared to the default parameters. The positional error between the modeled and observed MCSs showed that when the model produced an MCS, it was usually close to an observed MCS and oriented the same direction as the observed MCS.Item Open Access Wildfire Occurrence Prediction for CONUS with the UNet3+ Deep Learning Model(2024-12-13) Earnest, Bethany; McGovern, Amy; Fagg, Andrew; Diochnos, Dimitrios; Koch, Jennifer; Karstens, ChristopherWildfire represents a risk to life and property in many areas of the United States and is of growing concern to insurance companies, legislative bodies, and the public. Accurate wildfire forecasting could allow for earlier deployment of firefighting resources resulting in less property damage and less loss of life. Accurate wildfire forecasting could lower the cost of suppressing a wildfire in progress and allow for longer lead times in communicating with the public. The purpose of this research is to explore the efficacy of applying deep-learning to the task of predicting wildfire occurrence for the contiguous United States (CONUS) in the 0-to-10-day range. To address this challenge, I employ binary classification semantic segmentation using the UNet3+ model combined with a neighborhood loss function, Fractions Skill Score (FSS). The UNet3+ model, originally introduced for use in medical imaging, combines full scale skip connections with an encoder-decoder architecture, which allows it to capture both fine-grain detail and coarse-grain semantics simultaneously. With the neighborhood loss function, FSS, I am able to quantify model success by predictions made both in and around the location of the original fire label. I utilize two datasets as inputs to my model, first, gridMET and, second, NOAA’s Global Ensemble Forecast System (GEFS), both are commonly used by fire weather forecasters. For both approaches, my fire occurrence labels are sourced from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Fire Program Analysis fire-occurrence database (FPA-FOD), which contains spatial wildfire occurrence data for CONUS from 1992 to 2020, updated in 2022, and combines data sourced from the reporting systems of federal, state, and local organizations. The unique contribution of this dissertation is to advance the research at the intersection of deep learning and fire occurrence prediction. To this end, I detail two proof of concept models using familiar datasets and subject matter expert informed approaches with the goal of developing a deep learning method that can outperform current operational techniques used by forecasters for the task of fire occurrence prediction. My first approach, described in Chapters 5 and 6, sources model inputs from gridMET, a daily, CONUS-wide, high-spatial resolution dataset of surface meteorology variables including fire danger variables. From gridMET, I source observed fire danger variables, observed weather variables, and a topography variable. I compare two models, the “All Fires” model that uses all fire occurrence instances in the label images and the “Large Lightning” model that only uses instances of fire occurrence that represent large, natural-caused fires. For the experiment, the “All Fires” model produces higher max CSI values than the “Large Lightning” model when compared on general performance and on only large lightning fire performance. The “All Fires” model also produces higher probability of wildfire when compared to both the SPC Probability of Wildfire Climatology and the “Large Lightning” model for three case studies representing the largest large lightning fires from 2018, 2019, and 2020. In my second approach, described in Chapters 7 and 8, I source model inputs from the GEFS Reforecast dataset, a daily, 5-member ensemble numerical weather prediction model, used to produce retrospective gridded meteorological forecasts for CONUS. From GEFS, I source observed and forecast weather variables. I compare two models, the “Multi Label” model, that trains using data augmentation, and the “Pixel Label” model, that trains without using data augmentation. Both models build on the success of the previous approach by using all fire occurrences in the label images. I contextualize model performance using Max CSI and reliability calculated for three neighborhoods, 40km, 80km, 120km. For the experiment, the “Multi Label” model produces reliable results when measured at 80km and the “Pixel Label” model produces reliable results when measured at 40km. The “Multi Label” model and the “Pixel Label” model produce comparable Max CSI values for all neighborhoods for all days. Both models produce higher probability of wildfire values when compared to the SPC Probability of Wildfire Climatology on three case studies: the Camp fire, the Carr fire, and the Woolsey fire.Item Open Access Incarceration as Carceral System Space of Native Racialized (In)Equality: Comparing Sentencing Outcomes Between Native and White People Incarcerated in US Federal and State Prisons(2024-12-13) Tabbutt, Kelly; Chapple, Constance; Gerlinger, Julie; Carrillo, Ian; Ethridge, LaurenOverincarceration of Indigenous peoples across North America is a critical and deep-rooted social issue. Racialized structural inequality are theorized to underpin racialized inequalities in carceral system outcomes including sentence length, monetary penalties, and supervision. Settler colonialism is theorized to underpin these inequalities per Native people. Taking structural settler colonialism for granted and applying the intertwined frameworks of carceral capitalism and necrocapitalism, my research answers three interrelated questions: How do economic precarity and Native visibility influence racialized differences in: 1) sentence length, 2) the likelihood of being assessed legal financial obligations in addition to incarceration, and 3) the likelihood of expecting post-release supervision? My research relies primarily on data from the Bureau of Justice Statistics Survey of Prisoners. My research utilizes linear regression to examine the outcome of sentence length and binary logistic regression to examine the outcomes of the likelihood of fines or fees and expecting supervision, applying the same models to two separate subsamples for the Native and white incarcerated people surveyed. My research findings indicate a limited influence per Native visibility and no influence per individual-level economic precarity on the outcomes for the Native subsample. Though individual-level measures of economic precarity did have some influence on the outcomes for the white subsample. Further, the group-level measures of white economic precarity influenced these outcomes across subsamples and Native economic precarity had a limited influence for both subsamples. My research contributes to the literatures examining both racialized carceral system inequality and Native structural inequalities by investigating patterns of inequality across states, demonstrating at least limited applicability of critical theories of carceral system inequalities to Native experiences, and, most significantly, illuminating directions that future research in the area of Native racialized carceral system inequalities must take to unpack this complex structural issue.Item Open Access AN ORCHESTRATION ANALYSIS OF KEVIN WALCZYK’S CONCERTO GAUCHO FOR TRUMPET AND WIND ENSEMBLE (2007) IN CONTEXT WITH THE CONCERTO GENRE FOR BANDS FROM 1880 TO 2007(2024-05-11) Conrad, Jon; Simon, Shanti; Wakefield, William; Baumgartner, Christopher; Hand, Caroline; Pender, JudithKevin Walczyk’s (b. 1964) Concerto Gaucho for Trumpet and Wind Ensemble (2007) represents a significant development of original literature for soloist and full band orchestration. While the twentieth-century band movement gained momentum through many initiatives that primarily focused on developing an original body of literature for the band, new initiatives began focusing with similar intensity on developing an original repertoire featuring soloists. Since the beginning of the twenty-first century, significant progress was made in adding artistic solo literature to the band’s repertoire. This document provides context to the evolution of wind band literature with soloists in regard to addressing balance issues while utilizing the full resource of woodwind, brass, and percussion instruments. The document examines Concerto Gaucho for Trumpet and Wind Ensemble through a phrase-by-phrase analysis of orchestration techniques in regard to balance with the solo voice and clarity within the ensemble.Item Open Access Foster Care's Influence on Educators(2024-08) Fields, Katie; Lake, Vickie; Ethridge, Libby; Hellman, Chan; Dewhirst, CourtneyThis dissertation explores various facets of foster care, focusing on foster families' experiences and educators' attitudes toward trauma-informed care. The first study uses autoethnography to document a family's first year as foster parents, highlighting their challenges, rewards, and personal growth, along with the cultural adjustments within the family. The second study examines the disciplinary challenges faced by foster children in schools, noting the inadequacy of conventional methods like buddy classrooms and zero-tolerance policies. It investigates whether educators' personal or professional exposure to foster care influences their attitudes toward trauma-informed care, finding that those with such experience have more favorable attitudes, as measured by the ARTIC-35 assessment. Despite increased awareness of childhood trauma among educators, foster children still face higher rates of suspension and expulsion. The dissertation argues that transformative learning experiences, particularly exposure to the foster care system during teacher training and professional development, are essential for fostering empathetic and effective trauma-informed education. The findings advocate for integrating these experiences into educational programs to better support foster children.Item Open Access POSTSECONDARY TRANSITION OF INDIGENOUS STUDENTS WITH DISABILITIES(2024-08) Tennell, Courtney; Williams-Diehm, Kendra; Youngbull, Natalie; Peltier, Corey; Hott, BrittanyIndigenous students with disabilities (ISWD) are proportionally the most represented racial demographic receiving special education services under IDEA (2004), which mandates postsecondary transition services for students with an IEP. Despite their disproportionate representation, ISWD are almost entirely absent from postsecondary transition research, resulting in a lack of evidence-based practices to support their transitions. This dissertation aims to identify evidence-based strategies to make transition planning culturally responsive for ISWD, proposing a model for braiding evidence-based practices. Chapter 2 reviews the literature on evidence-based practices and predictors, revealing that ISWD constitute less than 1% of the samples used to identify and classify these practices. In Chapter 3, a panel of Indigenous knowledge holders shares their expertise on the relevance of transition assessments for ISWD, identifying five key areas for teachers to consider: culture, first-generation students, guidance/mentorship, family involvement, and financial literacy. Chapter 4 presents a phenomenological study in which family members of ISWD discuss their experiences with transition planning and suggest improvements, including awareness of resources, employment support, and financial literacy education. Chapter 5 synthesizes the findings from the previous chapters, weaving them together to propose strategies that support ISWD in the transition process. The dissertation concludes with a discussion of areas for future research and implications for practitioners.Item Open Access AN EXAMINATION OF BACKGROUND, PERSONALITY, AND JOB-RELATED CHARACTERISTICS AMONG TRADITIONALLY, ALTERNATIVELY, AND EMERGENCY CERTIFIED NOVICE TEACHERS IN OKLAHOMA(2024-07-25) Dennis, Nicolette; Ford, Timothy; Randle, Rodger; Adams, Curt; Edwards, BeverlyOnly a few studies have compared traditionally and nontraditionally certified teachers. This exploratory study examined the differences among emergency, alternative, and traditionally trained teachers who were new to an urban Midwestern school district. Hiring alternative and emergency certified teachers has become a standard solution for districts and school leaders in all 50 states to address significant teacher shortages. The purpose of this study was to investigate differences in background, personality, and job-related characteristics such as teaching knowledge, grit, self-efficacy, and job satisfaction by certification type, as well as the moderation of the relationship between these characteristics and job satisfaction by certification type. Following approval from the Institutional Review Board (IRB), a survey was distributed to the email addresses of 58,733 certified teachers employed in public schools within Oklahoma. After removing duplicates and excluding responses from non-teachers and those with more than three years of experience, the final data set comprised 556 responses from teachers with one to three years of classroom experience, gathered in the summer of 2022. Many of the participants began their careers in the Fall of 2019, with many most likely having spent their first two years teaching during the COVID-19 pandemic. Analysis revealed that emergency and alternative certification pathways showed significant moderation of the relationship of job satisfaction with teaching knowledge, with emergency pathways being highly significant (p < .01) and alternative pathways moderately significant (p < .05). Job satisfaction for alternatively certified teachers was significantly lower than the other two certification types (p < .05). Grit was significantly higher for alternatively certified teachers (p < .05). At the same time, Big 5 Emotional Stability demonstrated a highly significant positive connection for emergency certified teachers (p < .01). Self-efficacy in student engagement showed a positive correlation for alternatively certified teachers (p < .01). In contrast, self-efficacy in classroom management was positively correlated for both traditionally (p < .05) and alternatively (p < .01) trained teachers. FIT-Choice Perceived Ability and Job Transferability showed positive correlations for traditionally trained teachers (p < .05 and p < .01, respectively). FIT-Choice Social Equity and Job Transferability showed positive connections for alternatively trained teachers (p < .05 and p < .01, respectively). FIT-Choice Fallback Career had a negative correlation for emergency certified teachers (p < .05). One of the most intriguing findings was the relationship between job satisfaction and familial obligations, such as parenting or caregiving. This study's findings offer numerous paths for further research into the factors influencing teacher job satisfaction and effectiveness based on certification pathways.Item Open Access Examining Warning Response Among Spanish Speakers in the United States to Enhance Multilingual Wireless Emergency Alerts(2024-08-01) Trujillo-Falcón, Joseph E.; Cionea, Ioana A.; Reedy, Justin; Montgomery-Vestecka, Gretchen; Shafer, MarkAs one of the fastest growing groups in the United States, the Spanish-speaking population of 41.2 million represents one in ten Americans today. Spanish-speaking communities in the United States come from diverse backgrounds in Latin America, Europe, and Africa, each with unique cultural practices and hazard experiences tied to their places of origin. Such diversity, while enriching, poses considerable challenges for risk communicators trying to engage with multilingual populations in disaster contexts. Addressing the linguistic and cultural needs of these communities demands evidence-based research to establish best practices in our current emergency system. This dissertation has two objectives aiming to enhance emergency communication systems and messages for the U.S. Spanish-speaking public. First, by integrating intercultural communication concepts, this qualitative dissertation investigates the role of cultural factors—such as disaster subcultures, dialects, and immigration status— in the understanding of warning systems by multilingual speakers in the United States. Second, by employing two risk communication frameworks, I examine how Spanish speakers in the United States respond to existing mobile, multilingual emergency warnings known as Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEAs). More specifically, I employ the warning response model (WRM) and the extended parallel process model (EPPM) to examine both the cognitive processes of warning reception and the emotional behaviors involved in decision making. To achieve these goals, I conducted 27 think-aloud and semi-structured interviews with members of the Spanish-speaking population. Through subsequent constant comparative analysis, my results from the two objectives unravel how language disparities and cultural disconnect exacerbate vulnerabilities for non-English speaking populations. First, I found that Spanish speakers in the United States interpret their local warning systems through multiple perspectives. Foreign-born immigrants experienced culture shock upon encountering U.S. warning systems for the first time and reported similar adaptation processes overall. U.S.-born Spanish speakers understood warning systems not only through their local geography but also through cultural experiences derived from their community and ethnic origins in Latin America. Spanish speakers living in border communities experienced differing and sometimes conflicting warning systems between the United States and Mexico. Undocumented immigrants resisted adapting to U.S. warning systems, recognizing the systemic injustices underlying these emergency systems. Second, I discovered that clear, consistent, culturally competent, and jargon-free messages empower Spanish speakers to take protective action against natural hazards like tornadoes. These effective messages were almost always the 360-character WEA messages, as they provided the necessary contextual information. I use these insights to provide recommendations for a more inclusive multilingual emergency system in the United States. I advocate for increased coordination between governmental agencies, community leaders, and international entities, fostering a learning environment to better tailor messages for multilingual groups. Additionally, I propose the implementation of WEAs in multilingual settings to reach more underserved communities. Based on insights from my participants, I propose slight modifications to 360-character Spanish-language WEAs, which were overwhelmingly favored by my respondents. Through these recommendations, I outline a vision for a future multilingual emergency system, highlighting the key cultural and linguistic factors that need to be considered to ensure warning equity for all.Item Open Access Extending Reality: Understanding Moderating Variables in Spatial Learning with Augmented and Virtual Reality(2024-08-02) Lee, Trey; Neeson, Thomas; Koch, Jennifer; Gliedt, Travis; Burns, John; Feille, KellyDigital learning tools like smartphones, tablets, and extended reality (XR) devices are increasingly accessible to students and teachers. These devices have the potential to be powerful educational tools and can simplify complex tasks, but they are often adopted without a full understanding of their effects on learners. This dissertation aims to evaluate how spatial technologies such as augmented and virtual reality (AR and VR), collectively referred to as extended reality, impact the learning process, and how these effects might depend on the characteristics of each individual learner. The research presented here expands on existing research by utilizing different categories of devices and multiple modes of visualization, analyzing their effects within three distinct settings and a diverse pool of participants. In our first analysis, we evaluated learning outcomes for students who used XR in a university classroom to explore key concepts from marine ecology and conservation. We found that students utilizing XR had significantly higher rates of learning achievement in a pre/post-test experimental design. While gender identity and recreational gaming habits had no significant relationship with learning achievement, women enjoyed the XR activity more than men and wished to use XR in educational contexts again in the future. In a second analysis, we evaluated learning outcomes for high school students who used gamified AR while visiting a public aquarium. In this informal educational setting, we again found that AR significantly improved learning outcomes, but we also observed a significant gender effect. Boys aged 14-18 displayed greater learning achievement than girls in response to the gamified mobile AR activity. In a third analysis, we evaluated the usefulness of XR tools for navigating a novel indoor environment. We found that stereoscopic AR improved participants’ abilities to navigate a novel indoor environment, compared to a control group with no assistance, but participants using monoscopic AR performed worse than the control group. When participants repeated the navigation task two weeks later without the use of a device, all groups demonstrated significant improvements in performance. The control group showed the greatest improvements, while participants in the stereoscopic AR group retained the least distance and time traveled. We found a significant relationship between navigational performance and the age of the participant, and a significant interaction between age and gender, but no relationships between navigational performance and gender or spatial thinking ability. Overall, this dissertation provides further evidence that XR technologies can be powerful educational tools. In all three chapters, we offer strategies and suggestions for educators who wish to implement XR in their classrooms or field trips.Item Restricted Early Modern Jesuit Science Education at the Collegio Romano: Orazio Grassi, Galileo and the Controversy over the Comets(2024-08-01) Bartel, Kraig; Barker, Peter; Crowther, Kathleen; Wickersham, Jane; Magruder, Kerry; Foslom, RaphaelThis dissertation addresses the scientific practice and science education of the members of the Society of Jesus in the early modern period. Drawing on the career of the Jesuit mathematician and instructor at the Collegio romano, Orazio Grassi, this study examines not only the scientific content in his normative publications, but also includes the content related to his students in the classroom in the early seventeenth century. In doing so, this study provides a record of scientific education in mathematics at the Collegio romano during the early seventeenth century. Far from the popular narratives espoused by histories of science of the twentieth century, in which the Society of Jesus was depicted as dogmatically orthodox or cautious at best, examining the content of the classroom reveals a much more nuanced consideration in the fields of optics, astronomy, cosmology, time keeping, and arithmetic. The evidence from Grassi's lectures and publications in the early seventeenth century demonstrate the extend to which Jesuits were able to participate fully in the developments in the history of science during the early modern period. This dissertation demonstrates that the Society of Jesus was extensively involved in the minutia of early modern debates about the certainty of mathematics, the distribution and substance of the cosmos, the nature of comets and other celestial pheomena, debates about the nature of light and sight, and many more contemporaneous issues of interest to the scientific community. Through a comparative textual analysis of Grassi’s lecture notes as well as his normative publications, this dissertation argues that Jesuit science and science education was neither isolationist nor backward. Rather early modern Jesuit mathematicians such as Grassi were able to not only engage at the highest level of debate with luminaries such as Galileo Galilei, and were also responsible for building concensus around challenging issues and topics.Item Open Access ALTERNATIVE PATHS, UNCONVENTIONAL STRENGTHS: THE INFLUENCE OF SELF-EFFICACY ON RETENTION RATES AMONG K-12 SPECIAL EDUCATORS IN THE STATE OF OKLAHOMA(2024) Webster, Fanee; Peltier, Corey; Crowson, Howard; Henry, Aiyana; Williams-Diehm, KendraThe purpose of this study was to evaluate the role that certification pathway may have on the retention and attrition rates in the field of education in regard to classroom teachers. Teacher shortages are continuing to be problematic in the field of special education and with the amount of alternative certification options increasing, this study looked at whether this phenomenon is being affected by the certification pathway of special educators. A survey design was created to and dispersed to special education teachers in the state of Oklahoma. A sequential mediation model was performed with self-efficacy and burnout as the mediators. The survey design yielded 191 participants. Results showed that certification pathway is not a statistically significant indicator on the intention to leave the field. Burnout was statistically significant to self-efficacy and job satisfaction. Future research should examine the self-efficacy and burnout with more attention paid to specific domains within each area.Item Open Access Tropopause Polar Vortex Linkages to Arctic and Midlatitude Phenomena(2024-08-01) Burg, Tomer; Cavallo, Steven; Parsons, David; McFarquhar, Greg; Lang, Andrea; Neeman, HenryTropopause polar vortices (TPVs) are coherent, closed tropopause-based vortices that spend at least 60% of their lifetime poleward of 65° latitude. TPVs are identified by a local minima in potential temperature and height, and a local maxima in potential vorticity on the dynamic tropopause. TPVs are most common in the Arctic, where they are often associated with the intensification of Arctic cyclones (ACs), but on occasion exit the Arctic into the midlatitudes where they are often associated with cold air outbreaks (CAOs). This dissertation investigates TPV linkages to ACs, CAOs, and polar lows (PLs), focusing on systematic TPV-AC linkages and case studies of TPV intensity linkages to an AC case, a PL case, and a major CAO. Rapidly deepening ACs are commonly associated with an upstream TPV which becomes vertically aligned with the AC by the end of the rapid deepening episode. Summer cases are associated with closer proximity to the closest TPV and less lower-tropospheric baroclinic instability than winter cases, with summer cases often over the central Arctic Ocean and winter cases often in the North Atlantic into the Barents and Kara seas. Additionally, ACs whose rapid deepening episode coincides with cyclogenesis are less likely to be over the central Arctic Ocean and are farther from the closest TPV relative to ACs that develop at least 24 h prior to the onset of rapid deepening. Numerical simulations designed to modify the intensity of two TPVs associated with the August 2012 ``Great Arctic Cyclone" show that stronger TPVs are associated with a faster peak deepening rate and earlier peak intensity of the cyclone, but with the closer TPV to the AC exhibiting a greater impact on the intensification rate of the AC, and the farther TPV exhibiting a greater impact on the track of the AC. The increased intensification rate is primarily associated with stronger differential cyclonic vorticity advection downstream of the TPVs. Weakening the broader upper-tropospheric trough within which the closer TPV is embedded in results in a substantially weaker and more progressive AC. Applying the same TPV modification methodology to an intense PL case only results in very minimal impact on the intensity of the PL, and a 10-member initial condition uncertainty ensemble shows the track and intensity of the PL are more sensitive to the amplitude of a ridge upstream of the TPV than the intensity of the TPV. Finally, an investigation of the role of two merging TPVs in a historic CAO in the southern Great Plains in February 2021 shows both TPVs had a direct role in the evolution of the CAO, but that backward air parcel trajectories from the southern Great Plains were mostly associated with one TPV instead being distributed equally between both TPVs. The control simulation produces the coldest temperatures at the peak of the CAO in the southern Great Plains, as intensifying both TPVs results in an earlier merger and stronger cold pool but a slower and farther north resultant TPV, while weakening both TPVs results in a weaker cold pool. This result differs from past studies of TPV-CAO linkages where a single, fast-moving TPV exhibited a more direct linkage between TPV intensity and CAO magnitude.Item Open Access What internal and external factors do previously low-income individuals describe as key to emerging from poverty?(2024-08) Oyarzo, Felipe; Hellman, Chan; Kisamore, Jennifer; Kwon, Kyong Ah; Myers Morgan, MegThe purpose of this study is to identify the primary internal and external factors that facilitate individuals' emergence from poverty. The principal investigator (PI) conducted interviews with a diverse sample of 21 participants who were born into poverty and successfully transitioned into the middle class. A phenomenological approach was employed, focusing on the lived experiences of these adults. The primary actions participants reported taking to overcome poverty included securing employment, pursuing formal education beyond high school, and relocating. Key internal factors identified were hope, faith, and a desire to escape hunger, abuse, or trauma. Participants predominantly cited their children as significant motivators when asked about family-related factors. Additionally, having parents with shared goals and living in a supportive home environment that provided emotional, verbal, and economic support, along with clear rules and discipline, were crucial. External factors facilitating their emergence from poverty included employment opportunities, access to medical services, welfare support, relocation for work opportunities, support from a church, formal education beyond high school, and specific assistance from a friend in the middle class. At the conclusion of the interview, participants were asked to identify the most critical factors among all the internal and external elements previously discussed. Seventy-six percent of participants indicated that all factors were important as they supported them in an interconnected manner, while sixty-two percent identified their children as the most significant motivating factor in their emergence from poverty. Keywords: poverty emergence, economic mobility, hope, motivating factors.Item Open Access Osteochondral Tissue Engineering for the Temporomandibular Joint Mandibular Condyle(2024-08-01) Nedrelow, David; Detamore, Michael; Watts, Valerie; Jo, Javier; Liu, Yingtao; Ritto, FabioAn important goal for tissue engineering and regenerative medicine remains to to direct tissues regeneration with implantable scaffolds. Temporomandibular joint (TMJ) mandibular condyle tissue regeneration may require large scale scaffolds due to dramatic tissue loss. Unfortunately, there is a paucity of research on large-scale anatomically shaped scaffolds for osteochondral tissue regeneration. In the current dissertation, a human sized goat TMJ mandibular condylar prosthesis was developed with different phases for cartilage and bone regeneration. To regenerate cartilage, an acellular hydrogel was comprised of a light-cured pentenoate-modified hyaluronan (PHA) and devitalized cartilage matrix (DVC) based hydrogel. The hydrogel exhibited signs of potential chondrogenicity with upregulation of cartilage-specific genes (i.e., aggrecan and SOX-9) during in vitro cell culture with human bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells. An Ogden model was employed to improve the stiffness characterization of the cartilage-matrix hydrogel. In contrast with linear mechanical data, the hydrogel stiffness behavior was nonlinear. The nonlinear Ogden model fit exhibited a good fit of the nonlinear cartilage-matrix hydrogel mechanical data to failure (R2=0.998 ± 0.001). For the bone substrate, we developed an in-house custom filament for use with commercially available 3D-printers. A goat-sized anatomically shaped 3D-printed osteochondral scaffold was digitally designed, fabricated, and implanted for 6 months in a small animal TMJ study. The study demonstrated that cartilage-like structures could be regenerated on the condyle surface and that bone formation was possible, though precise spatial control of bone formation remains an important challenge for further investigation. In addition, the integration of a hydrogel chondral phase with a stiff osteal phase presented a challenging. The current thesis thus aimed to enhance furthermore aimed to develop a biomechanically interlocking structure to enhance the interface strength, and furthermore enhance the bioactive properties of 3D-printed PCL-based bone scaffolds. For the biomechanically interlocking interface structure, an hourglass tube shape was introduced. Interface biomechanics of the hourglass tube structure were investigated with both empirical experiments, and a computer model that simulated the experiment conditions. The hourglass tube computer model exhibited a shift in stress favoring compressive stresses. Empirically, the hourglass tube exhibited 54% higher ultimate interface shear stress, 49% higher nominal strain at failure, and 2.15-fold higher energy to failure than the crosshatch substrate’s 33 kPa, 19%, and 3.9 kJ · m3, respectively. To promote controlled bone growth, a series of potentially osteoinductive biomaterials, i.e., demineralized bone matrix (DBM), and devitalized tendon (DVT) were successfully incorporated into a PCL-based 3D-printing filament at concentrations of up to 50% w/w and 3D-printed to form scaffolds. 3D-printed PCL functionalized with 37.5% w/w HAp and 12.5% w/w DBM exhibited enhanced osteogenic gene expression for RUNX2 and OCN. Overall, the current dissertation demonstrated signs of functional TMJ restoration with an acellular prosthesis; therefore, the significance of the current dissertation was the development of a functional biomaterial scaffold that was 3D-printable and translatable to temporomandibular joint restoration.Item Restricted Breaking Stereotypes in STEM: Professional Development, School Counselor STEM-Advocacy Beliefs/Practices and African American Female Student Course Enrollment(2024-08) Jones, Angela; Ford, Timothy; Hamlin, Daniel; Adams, Curt; Savic, MilosAfrican American females are greatly underrepresented in STEM careers. Evidence suggests that one reason for this situation is that African American female students receive fewer opportunities to take advanced math and science courses in middle and high school. Theory suggests that implicit bias and/or negative stereotypes may lead counselors and school staff to track African American females into basic courses that have less academic rigor. Few analyses have sought to test whether professional development targeting negative stereotypes can produce increased enrollment in advanced math and science courses among African American students and change the behaviors/practices of school counselors regarding STEM advisement. The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of a professional development program for school counselors—STEM for All and All for STEM webinar in addition to a portion of the Engineer inclusion: Best Practices for Recruiting Students into Nontraditional STEM and CTE Programs and Pathways webinar—on the course enrollments of African American female students and STEM advocacy attitudes of school counselors. A pre-post single group survey study was performed in one district to test the effects of this professional development program. Twenty-two school counselors took the survey just before the intervention was given and 21 counselors took the survey post intervention. Wilcoxon signed-rank tests were run to determine the following: changes in overall school counselor survey pre/post scores, the intervention effect when controlling for several independent factors, and the intervention effect when controlling for single independent factors. Course enrollments for African American female students were collected and analyzed pre and post intervention. A Wilcoxon signed rank model for the proportion of Black females taking advanced math and science courses after the professional development intervention was conducted. Follow-up Wilcoxon signed rank tests were conducted by demographic characteristics including race and gender. Results revealed that there was no average improvement in school counselor STEM advocacy scores (representing advocacy beliefs and practices) or African American female STEM course enrollment as a result of the STEM intervention for school counselors. However, school counselors who identified as American Indian/Alaska Native as well as those who indicated that they work in both the middle and high school levels showed a significant improvement in STEM advocacy scores, respectively. In addition, school counselors who indicated they had 16 plus years of experience showed a marginal decline in STEM advocacy scores.Item Open Access EXPERIMENTAL AND THEORETICAL STUDY OF A NOVEL FREEZE DESALINATION METHOD USING AN INTERMEDIATE COOLING LIQUID(2024-08-01) Kaviani, Reza; Shabgard, Hamidreza; Parthasarathy, Kumar; Cai, Jie; Kazempoor, Pejman; Papavassiliou, DimitriosFreeze desalination (FD) emerges as a promising method for treatment of high-salinity brines. In this work, experimental and theoretical studies are conducted on the design, fabrication, and testing of a novel FD system for desalinating brines with salinities up to 100,000 ppm. The system integrates a refrigeration unit with a desalination unit via an intermediate cooling liquid (ICL). The desalination unit is comprised of a freezing chamber, a slurry transport section, and separation modules. Operating at atmospheric pressure, the FD system leverages the efficient heat transfer achieved through direct contact between the brine and the ICL, thus avoiding complications like ice adhesion to cooling surfaces and the mixing of refrigerant with the treated water. A key factor in increasing the energy efficiency of the developed method is recovering the cold energy of the generated ice to cool the condenser of the refrigeration unit. This can be achieved by running an ice-water slurry through a heat exchanger to absorb heat from the condensing refrigerant. To better understand the fundamentals of ice-water slurry heat transfer, a computational model is developed to simulate the melting of a suspended solid particle in its own melt. The fabricated prototype is used to study the impacts of various operational parameters such as feed brine salinity, cooling temperatures, and centrifugation times on the recovery ratio and the purity of the treated water. It is found that lower cooling temperatures and feed brine salinities enhance the recovery ratio, while increasing the salinity of the treated water. Specifically, a feed brine with a TDS of 70,000 ppm and a cooling temperature of -17°C resulted in a recovery ratio of approximately 50% and a treated water TDS of about 2,600 ppm. This study demonstrates a novel method for desalinating high-salinity brines, which potentially offers greater energy efficiency compared to conventional evaporative methods. This method could have significant applications in industrial brine management and brine mining.Item Open Access Testing, Characterization, And Analysis Of Class F Fly Ash Geopolymers Under Oilfield Testing Conditions(2024-07) Devers, Cameron; Teodoriu, Catalin; Ahmed, Ramadan; Devegowda, Deepak; Amani, Mahmood; Grady, BrianThe oil and gas industry relies heavily on Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC) for wellbore integrity, but the limitations of OPC in extreme environments such as high temperatures and pressures have necessitated the exploration of alternative materials. This dissertation investigates the potential of fly ash-based geopolymers as a sustainable alternative to OPC, focusing on their unconfined compressive strength (UCS) and compatibility with American Petroleum Institute (API) cement testing standards. Geopolymers are an inorganic polymer resulting from the reaction of aluminosilicate material and an alkali solution, typically comprised of potassium or sodium and hydroxides The research begins with an overview of the environmental impact of traditional cement production and the necessity for robust wellbore materials. It details the standard testing methods for OPC, including preparation, curing, and mechanical testing procedures, and extends these methods to geopolymers. The effects of various curing conditions and chemical compositions on the UCS of geopolymers are evaluated through a series of experiments. Results demonstrate significant variability in geopolymer performance, which is attributed to the inherent differences in fly ash composition and the lack of standardized testing protocols. Enhanced investigation techniques, such as Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), provide deeper insights into the microstructural properties of geopolymers and their correlation with mechanical performance. A comparative analysis of geopolymers and traditional API cements under similar conditions reveals that while geopolymers offer potential benefits, their inconsistent performance poses challenges for widespread adoption. The dissertation advocates for the development of standardized testing procedures specific to geopolymers to ensure reliable performance metrics. It explores the implications of using geopolymers in geothermal well completions, suggesting that with further research and standardization, geopolymers could become a viable alternative in high-temperature applications. The study concludes with a summary of vii findings and recommendations for future research, emphasizing the need for a comprehensive understanding of geopolymer chemistry and the establishment of industry-wide standards to facilitate their adoption in oil and gas operations.