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Cornmeal and corn gluten meal applications in gardens and landscapes
No full textCornmeal and corn gluten meal, both products from corn milling, are readily available to home gardeners. This fact sheet reviews the horticultural science behind each of these products and explains whether they have a legal and practical use in home gardens and landscapes. Alternative strategies are suggested for situations where neither product should be applied
Using cereal straw bales in home gardens
No full textOnce a popular commercial method of growing commercial crops, straw bale gardening is experiencing a resurgence among home gardeners. This publication addresses the scientific research behind straw bale gardening and explains the evidence-based benefits and drawbacks for gardeners creating straw bale gardens at home
Building Capacity for Adult and Organizational Learning to Address RN-BSN Student Attrition
No full textIn response to the Affordable Care Act of 2010 and the changing health care needs of the 21st century, the Institute of Medicine recommended that 80% of the registered nursing (RN) workforce should have their baccalaureate degree or higher by the year 2020. The College of Nursing at Washington State University (WSU) offers an accredited, online BSN-completion program for RNs (RN-BSN). Analysis indicated that approximately 14% of students who first enrolled in the program between Fall 2014 and Summer 2017 have since withdrawn or temporarily discontinued the program. Due to several organizational challenges, there have been no coordinated efforts to examine student attrition. Without an intentional process to collect necessary data and to reflect on the experiences of these specific students, any retention supports or structures for continuous improvement would be informed by scant data and limited perspectives of the faculty, staff, and program administrators. The purpose of this action research study, therefore, was to engage these stakeholders in reflective practice on the issue of student attrition from the WSU RN-BSN program.
Using a framework of Look-Think-Act, seven faculty, staff, and program administrators and I met over a 15-month period to reflect on our perspectives of student attrition and our experiences throughout the research process. The RN-BSN research team identified factors contributing to student attrition through analyzing archived student data and piloting a collaboratively-authored survey instrument. We received only 10 completed responses to the pilot survey; thus, we could not make generalizable conclusions from the data collected. However, the data provided insights that were crucial to the RN-BSN research team’s learning. Key to the RN-BSN research team’s process, we needed to establish a collaboration and inquiry structure that would attend to our problem of practice, student attrition. What emerged was a new model that provides an understanding of the capacity-building process leading to overall improvement outcomes in a higher education context. This model also provides a constructive perspective when outcomes are not produced and highlights flaws that need to be addressed for continuous improvement.Washington State University, Educational Leadershi
PARALLEL LATENT CHANGE MODELING FOR DEPRESSION AND PAIN TO PREDICT RELAPSE DURING BUPRENORPHINE AND SUBOXONE TREATMENT
No full textMuch of what is currently known regarding treatment for opioid use disorder has been derived from heroin users, with very few investigations into the unique processes that may be involved with individuals who primarily misuse prescription opioids. Relapse is common in treatment for opioid use disorder, making the parallel processes related to relapse during treatment critical for examination. Pain and depression often co-occur in substance use disorder treatment, including opioid substitution treatments. Advanced statistical analyses that can simultaneously model these two conditions may lead to targeted clinical interventions. The objective of this dissertation was to utilize a discrete survival analysis with a growth mixture model to test time to prescription opioid relapse, predicted by parallel growth trajectories of depression and pain, in a clinical sample of patients in buprenorphine/naloxone treatment for primary prescription opioid use disorder. The latent class analysis characterized heterogeneity among patients (n=359) in the Prescription Opioid Addiction Study, a Clinical Trials Network project collected from 2006-2009. The results from this secondary analysis suggested that a 4-class solution was the most parsimonious based on global fit indices and clinical relevance. In order of class size, the 4 classes identified were: 1) typical treatment, 2) high depression and moderate pain, 3) high pain, and 4) low treatment motivation. Odds ratios for time-to-first use indicated no statistically significant difference in relapse between the high pain and the high depression classes, but all other classes differed significantly. These results emphasize the need to monitor the influence of pain and depression during stabilization on buprenorphine and naloxone. Future work may identify appropriate interventions that can be introduced to extend time-to-first prescription opioid use among patients in this clinical population.Washington State University, Psychology - Experimenta
TAIL MUTUAL INFORMATION OF VINE COPULAS
No full textMultivariate mutual information describes the amount of uncertainty among several random variables, whose scale-invariant dependence is captured by the copula of the joint distribution. In this dissertation, we first show that multivariate mutual information and conditional mutual information of a distribution are the same as these of its underlying copula. The invariance properties allows us to separate one-dimensional marginal distributions and multivariate dependence in the context of analyzing mutual information. Second, we derive the recursive formulas of multivariate mutual information for vine copulas in terms of conditional mutual informations of bivariate liking copulas, based on the tree structures. The important part of this dissertation consists of introducing for the first time in the literature and analyzing the tail mutual information of multivariate extremes. Specifically, we introduce upper and lower tail mutual information of a multivariate distribution and prove that the rates at which upper or lower conditional mutual information converge to zero can be expressed in terms of conditional mutual information of tail densities. We also establish the scaling properties of upper or lower tail mutual information and show that the scaling tail indexes are the same as that of the underlying multivariate regularly varying distribution or the underlying copula. Our results, such as explicit expressions on converging rates and scaling tail indexes, lay the foundations for multivariate extreme value analysis, based on mutual information.Washington State University, Mathematic
In Pursuit of Sustainability: Local Policy Output and the Roles of Community Capitals and Collaborative Governance
No full textPursuing sustainability is a challenging task for any community, since sustainability can be defined in numerous ways and the mechanisms that lead to sustainable outcomes are not often clear and are dependent on each community’s environmental, social, economic, and political contexts. Using multiple and logistic regression and data from over one hundred cities of varying sizes across the United States, this dissertation examines this pursuit and identifies which variables are likely to lead to various types of sustainability policy. I explore the relationships between social, human, political, and cultural capitals, collaborative governance, several control variables, and what types of sustainability policy local governments pursue. More specifically, I examine the determinants of whether communities tend to focus on environmental, economic, and social sustainability policy, how well these communities balance these three pillars of sustainability, and how generally focused cities are on sustainability policies and ideas.
To test how community capitals and collaborative governance lead to sustainable outcomes, I refine and use a quantitative model known as the Community Assets and Attributes Model (CAAM) to measure community capitals for each city, and I use word counts of key words associated with various aspects of sustainability found within city sustainability, climate action, and comprehensive plans to develop metrics for which types of sustainability policy cities are pursuing. These data are used in several regression models to determine how the independent variables of community capitals and collaborative governance are related to the dependent variables associated with sustainability policy output.
Findings reveal that while community capitals and collaborative governance are related to local sustainability policy output in some limited and indirect ways, the primary variables associated with policy output include more traditional political and policy drivers and barriers, such as whether cities have independent sustainability offices, whether the local population believes it will be affected by climate change, and whether cities return to previous policy plans to update them as environmental, political, and financial contexts change. The meaning of these results, their relationship to community capitals and collaborative governance, and the avenues of future research opened up by this dissertation are discussed in detail.Washington State University, Political Scienc
DECISION SUPPORT FOR SUPPLIER SELECTION AND HOTEL REVENUE MANAGEMENT
No full textThis dissertation focuses on the general theme of decision support for the area of hotel revenue management (RM), as well as supply chain management. In the first essay, I explore two research questions: How should the sophistication of hotel RM be measured? And what are the internal and external indirect drivers of the level of sophistication of hotel RM? The level of sophistication is based on decision tree tests, which include four steps: data capture, data foundation, rigor of analysis, and techniques used, including pricing, inventory allocation, and product configuration. Via an empirical analysis, I determine five positive drivers of hotel RM sophistication. My study provides hoteliers with guidelines for determining whether their RM system is at the right level of sophistication given their operating environment, and provides a roadmap for hotels to enhance RM sophistication through efforts to improve both internal and external drivers. The second essay discusses a supplier selection problem with business volume discounts. I develop a set of structural equations using predictive global sensitivity analysis, which can help managers make strategic order allocation decisions efficiently.Washington State University, Operation
LEADERSHIP, PRESTIGE, AND SOCIAL LEARNING ACROSS TRADITIONAL SOCIETIES
No full textThesis (Ph.D.), Anthropology, Washington State UniversityEvolutionary approaches to leadership are reinvigorating and unifying a diverse field. Influential evolutionary theories in anthropology have increasingly linked human leadership with prestige and social learning. Until very recently, many such theories have been inadequately supported with evidence from traditional societies.
Evolutionary anthropologists often rely on a broad range of evidence. Recent advances in genetics and emerging views of leadership in nonhuman species provide an opportunity to revise existing theories. An extensive review of evidence and theories on leadership, prestige and social learning suggested informational-based leadership – a form of “prestige” – occurs across diverse taxa; cumulative, complex culture may be uniquely human, but prestige-based leadership is not.
Using the electronic Human Relations Area Files (eHRAF) social learning in the ethnographic record among hunter-gatherers was assessed. Results suggested oblique and vertical transmission appear at similar rates and various forms of teaching are the most common processes of social learning. Vertical and oblique social learning are predominantly characterized by teaching, whereas horizontal social learning is primarily through collaborative learning. Approximations of age reveal a developmental pattern in which social learning of miscellaneous skills characterizes infancy, subsistence skills dominate childhood, and the social learning of religious beliefs are most frequent during adolescence.
A novel field study revealed similarities between male and female elected leaders in a small-scale, egalitarian society, with the exception of aggressiveness which characterized male leaders but seemed to preclude women from leadership positions. This study also provided the first test of the prediction that prestigious leaders should be the target of biased social learning; results suggested a measure of biased social learning is only a modest predictor of leader status but was a strong predictor of being respected.
Evolutionary frameworks of leadership should account for the full range of human cultural diversity. Collectively, these works highlight the importance of incorporating evolutionary approaches into leadership studies generally and provide novel systematic results from traditional societies relevant to existing theoretical models on leadership, prestige, and social learning.Washington State University, Anthropolog
DEVELOPMENT AND FABRICATION OF PROTEINS AS MULTIFUNCTIONAL MATERIALS FOR ENERGY STORAGE APPLICATIONS
No full textThesis (Ph.D.), Materials Science, Washington State UniversitySafe and high-energy batteries are the ultimate goal of development trends for advanced energy storage devices. Realization of this goal demands for developing (i) high-performance solid electrolytes for substituting today’s flammable liquid electrolytes, and (ii) high-capacity electrodes capable of storing more energy than current electrodes. In this dissertation, proteins have been exploited for achieving above two objectives.
This dissertation includes four parts. The first part Introduction describes the overview of lithium-based batteries and the development trends. The second part including Chapters 2, 3 and 4, provide studies on utilizing protein for advanced solid polymer electrolytes (SPEs). In Chapter 2, a novel protein-based solid electrolyte is fabricated, and the unique ion-conduction mechanism is analyzed. Different from conventional SPEs, the protein-based solid electrolyte reveals a unique decoupled ion-conduction mechanism. In Chapters 3 and 4, composite electrolytes enhanced by protein/TiO2 hybrid nanofillers are studied. Two types of hybrid nanofillers are fabricated: protein/TiO2 nanoparticles (Chapter 3) and protein/TiO2 nanowires (Chapter 4). Chapter 3 mainly discusses the proper way for manipulating protein configuration by TiO2 nanoparticles and concludes that a favorable protein configuration benefits transport of lithium ions. Chapter 4 outlines the study of core-shell protein/TiO2 nanowires for further improving the electrolyte properties. Adding these two hybrid nanofillers into polyethylene oxide (PEO) electrolytes, the physicochemical, mechanical and electrochemical properties are improved. Protein/TiO2 nanowire system shows further improvement compared with the nanoparticle counterpart. In the third part (Chapter 5 and 6), to address the critical issues of high-capacity sulfur cathodes, proteins are adopted for binder materials and battery interlayers. In Chapter 5, a protein-based binder with abilities of buffering large volume change of sulfur, adsorbing polysulfides and promoting electrochemical reactions is studied. These advantages warrant high loading sulfur cathodes and excellent battery performance. In Chapter 6, a unique interlayer (protein nanofilter) is fabricated, and the rational porous structure and surface properties of the nanofilter enable strong binding with polysulfides. Consequently, the electrochemical performance of the Li-S batteries is enhanced. In the last part, Chapter 7, the critical conclusions drawn from the studies are summarized and the outlook is proposed.Washington State University, Materials Scienc
Helping Underprepared Students: A Mixed-Methods Evaluation of a College Retention Program
No full textThesis (Ed.D.), Educational Leadership, Washington State UniversityThe goal to discover the effective elements of a retention program is part of the pragmatic epistemology of mixed-methods research. This research evaluated the effectiveness of a first-year retention program at an open-access university in the northwestern United States. The grade point averages and retention rates of students who participated in the program were compared against two groups of students: those who were eligible for the program but did not participate and other freshman students in the same academic year. Overall, most of the students who participated in the program earned higher GPAs than students who opted out of the program, but none of the differences were statistically significant. Additionally, the program improved student retention when compared with students who opted out of the program, but the differences in retention rates were not statistically significant. Qualitative data gathered from the students and staff who participated in the program provided some insight into the benefits and hinderances of the program as they pertain to social integration, institutional commitment, locus of control, self-efficacy, and achievement. The evaluation concludes with recommendations for improvement and future research.Washington State University, Educational Leadershi