Exertion Control

Current wearable fitness devices give the user after-the-fact fitness data, but little real-time feedback. Exertion Control, a new wearable device, continuously measures the user’s heart rate, creates a heart rate target, and helps the user reach it. This project completes the senior design and master’s thesis requirements and contains two milestones. The senior design product continuously measures the wearer’s heart rate and logs it with a user-friendly interface. This data models the heart’s exertion response and recovery response. The master’s thesis device refines the closed control loop with the user to give them a workout optimized to fit their needs

Self-Directed Learning and Technology Adoption by Principals

The changes in educational technology present challenges for K-12 principals leading students and faculty who are more engaged with classroom technology. The role of self-directed learning and how K-12 principals adopt the technology while leading the deployment and implementation of classroom technologies is not known due to a limited amount of empirical research. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between technology adoption and self-directed learning by K-12 principals. Using the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology as the theoretical framework, a quantitative cross-sectional study was designed. The survey instruments, Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology and Personal Responsibility Orientation Self-Directed Learning Scale were used to collect data from K-12 principals in the state of Arkansas. A regression and correlational analysis of the responses from 40 principals revealed a small positive but not statistically significant relationship between self-directed learning and technology adoption. The results also showed strong and moderate statistically significant correlations between the constructs of technology adoption and self-directed learning. The results from this research may provide a framework for pre-service and ongoing professional development of educational technology leadership. This study addresses positive social change by providing insight to administrators and bringing greater awareness to technology adoption. A greater awareness may increase their understanding of classroom technologies and may provide a foundation for better stewardship over public funds and purposeful engagement with students, parents, and the community

Judicial Elections, Public Opinion, and their Impact on State Criminal Justice Policy

This dissertation explores whether and how the re-election prospects faced by trial court judges in many American states influence criminal justice policy, specifically, state levels of incarceration, as well as the disparity in rates of incarceration for Whites and Blacks. Do states where trial court judges must worry about facing reelection tend to encourage judicial behavior that results in higher incarceration rates? And are levels of incarceration and racial disparities in the states influenced by the proportion of the state publics who want more punitive policies? These are clearly important questions because they speak directly to several normative and empirical issues concerning institutional design, representation, and equal treatment under the law. In addition to the role that court retention procedures are found to play, the dissertation also investigates the influence of a range of other factors, especially state characteristics, that shape state incarceration rates and racial disparities in punishment. To answer these questions, I first construct a theory of judicial retention goals that leads to testable hypotheses about how institutional design and state public opinion influence incarceration rates and racial disparity in state prison populations. I also assemble an original dataset by drawing information from a variety of sources. Annual state-level incarceration rates, my principal dependent variable, is drawn from the National Prisoner Statistics (NPS), 1978-2015 data compiled annually by the Department of Justice. A primary independent variable, judicial retention procedures is derived from the National Center for State Courts. Population data come from the U.S. Census Bureau. An original dataset of yearly state-level public punitiveness provides more nuanced data for exploring the linkages between election goals and judicial behavior. Finally, hypotheses are tested with a variety of methods, including multilevel regression and post-stratification (MRP), recursive analysis, time-series analysis, and difference-in-differences estimation. Before discussing how this dissertation contributes to the scholarly literature, it is important to note that this study does not attempt to resolve the longstanding argument between two values of judicial decision-making—judicial accountability versus and judicial independence—that continues to vex the judicial literature. A strong normative case for an independent judiciary can be made. American courts are considered a countermajoritarian institution, guarding against the tyranny of the majority and protecting the rights of minorities from the whims of the masses. Jurists, in an ideal world, would rule in strict accordance with the law, except when the law was used as an instrument of injustice. Such utopian judges—dispensing justice free of extra-legal considerations—would not, of course, consider the opinions of the public when making rulings. They would not be more punitive simply because the public wants them to be. They would not dispense “justice” to members of one group of citizens more harshly—or differently at all—than to members of another group. Indeed, such judicial independence would ideally put a brake on the excesses of punitive policies, which have produced questionable results in deterring crime. However, in the American judiciary, such a judge is relegated to mythical status. A robust literature in political science demonstrates that judges who staff American courts are not jurisprudential robots. Judges are influenced—whether explicitly or implicitly—by myriad extra-legal considerations including their policy preferences, the anticipated behavior of other actors in the politico-legal system, or even how recently they have taken a break. These influences, however, are to be considered seriously by political scientists and other scholars of the courts. More to the point, if judges are or will be influenced by political matters regardless of whether or not they should be, the question becomes one of accountability. Put another way, if judges are political actors, to whom should they be politically responsible? Most scholars in the state courts literature argue that judges are held accountable by the voters. If voters are to exercise such a role, jurists must take into account the preferences of the electorate and respond strategically to those preferences while still attempting to maximize their own preferences, whether those be policy-related or motivated by jurisprudence. Elections, thus, provide political accountability to a political actor who frequently behaves is a very political way. But evermore responsiveness to public opinion is not necessarily always desirable and is sometimes certainly very undesirable. To be certain, mass incarceration is accompanied by a host of negative consequences. However, judicial elections also provide a solution to these problems. Judges who go rogue in states (or the federal judiciary) with strong institutional tenure protections are unlikely to face consequences for their wayward behavior. On the contrary, judges who must stand for re-election are very likely to face consequences for straying too far. It is even possible for a vocal minority to sufficiently mobilize against and ultimately depose a rogue judge, especially considering the ordinarily low-profile nature of judicial elections. Over the course of this dissertation, I accomplish four major scholarly endeavors. First, I develop a democratic theory of state trial court judicial behavior. The theory is built on the punitiveness of public opinion and the salience of crime. From those foundational elements, I theorize that elected judges are responsive to public opinion on criminal justice issues in an effort to secure re-election. From this theory, I hypothesize that incarceration rates and racial disparity in prison populations will be higher in states with elected judges than in non-electoral states and that public opinion will condition the effect of elections such that as public opinion becomes more punitive in electoral states, the levels of incarceration and racial disparity will rise, compared to non-electoral states. Second, I assemble and validate an original dataset of public opinion toward crime and punishment. The first of its kind, this dataset, which is introduced in chapter 3, varies both over-time—year to year—and across space—state to state. Using the data compiled from more than 30 years of public opinion surveys, I demonstrate its validity by replicating previous work on the impact public opinion has on incarceration rates. I further discuss the utility of the data for myriad social scientific questions, both in political science and in other disciplines. Third, I explore the impact of judicial elections on incarceration rates and how the impact of those institutions on the penal system are conditioned by public opinion. Specifically, in chapter 4, I show that, when contrasted to states where judges are retained by some mechanism other than elections, states that use elections to keep judges on the bench are more responsive to public opinion and that incarceration rates are higher in electoral states when the public desires a more controlling response to crime. Additionally, I show that non-partisan elections create the conditions for judges to be more responsive to public opinion than partisan elections. Despite the finding from the time-series analysis that non-partisan elections are associated with more punitive outcomes, a causal analysis shows that none of the three states that changed from partisan to non-partisan elections experienced an increase in incarceration rates following the reform that would not have existed absent the reform. Finally, I show that racial disparities in incarceration are largely unaffected by the institutional arrangements for judicial retention. Time-series models indicate that, when compared to states without judicial elections, states with them are statistically no different in terms of the disparity between Black and White prison populations. However, when comparing types of elections, non-partisan elections produce Black disparity that is more responsive to public opinion than partisan elections. The project contributes to research in several fields of study. First, I extend the argument that that judicial elections provide voters with a mechanism for accountability to an important but often neglected setting of state trial court judicial decision-making. Trial court accountability to public opinion is important for government’s response to citizen demands for public safety. Prior research on the effects of judicial elections has focused primarily on appellate courts, with much less systematic research on the “workhorse” of the court system at the state level. This project moves beyond the study of appellate courts to study trial courts, expanding our understanding of previous findings. Second, I contribute to the growing literature that examines the political, partisan, and ideological antecedents of the criminal justice system. Previous research shows that electoral considerations affect criminal justice policy and that the partisan nature of the political system influences incarceration rates. I extend these findings to study state judiciaries. Third, I contribute to the fields of public opinion and state politics by demonstrating that elected trial state judges can improve representation by being responsive to the policy preferences of the public in the area of criminal justice policies

Lynching on the border: the death of Antonio Rodriguez and the rise of anti-Americanism during the Mexican Revolution

This thesis examines the lynching of Antonio Rodríguez along with the incident’s aftermath. Analysis interjects the narrative at crucial points throughout, and especially in chapter conclusions. The use of a transnational historical framework attempts to explain the intricacies of both nations’ diplomatic efforts. Similarly, both Mexican and American newspapers are used to stress differences in the respective publics’ opinion of events. Historians have often described the lynching of Antonio Rodríguez as an isolated incident, and one relegated to the sidelines of history as the Mexican Revolution unfolded. This thesis aims to reassess the significance of Rodríguez’s death, suggesting that the incident became a symbol of the failure of President Porfirio Díaz to provide for his citizens (at home and abroad). Furthermore, Rodríguez’s murder was not subsumed into the greater event of the Mexican Revolution; rather, the death of Antonio Rodríguez altered the initial phase of the Mexican Revolution

Are there Balance Differences between Aquatic and Land Athletes?

Proficiency in static and dynamic balance tests is an indicator of both athletic proficiency as well as an indicator of movement deficiencies. Those movement deficiencies could be due to a neurological issue related to mild traumatic brain injury (i.e. concussion). Previous studies have studied single leg static balance using the BESS (Balance error scoring system) which is also used by the NCAA to pre-test for concussions (Riemann, 2012). Aquatic athletes could be at a predisposed disadvantage in NCAA concussion testing because there is a possibility of having differences in balance ability (as compared to land athletes) that may be mistaken as concussion-like symptoms. Examining the difference between aquatic and land athletes\u27 balance could help us find a better alternative for concussion testing aquatic athletes. PURPOSE: This study aimed to determine if land and aquatic athletes have different levels of inherent balance. We hypothesized that aquatic athletes would have worse balance compared to land athletes. METHODS: Thirty healthy NCAA DIII athletes (15 aquatic and 15 land athletes) volunteered in accordance with the California Lutheran University IRB. Subjects performed the BESS test while barefoot. Independent t-tests compared BESS scores for the land and aquatic athlete groups (jamovi v2.2.5). Paired samples t-test determined differences between surfaces (flat vs. foam) across the entire group. Significance for all tests was set at α = 0.05. RESULTS: There was no difference between total BESS scores for aquatic (17.13+5.35) versus land athletes (14.86+4.55, t(28)=1.25, p=.221). We found there was a difference in total BESS score between flat (4.3 +2.83) vs. foam (11.7+3.42, t(28) = 10.76, pCONCLUSIONS:The results of this study showed the BESS test is more difficult on a foam surface compared to a solid surface. The comparison of the BESS scores for land versus aquatic athletes could show differences with a larger subject pool as we saw aquatic athletes generally had higher overall BESS score. We plan to further study the BESS test with a larger sample population of athletes in a wider variety of sports

Antecedent Moisture Conditions for Utah Local Storm Probable Maximum Floods

Introduction: The critical inflow design flood for most dams in Utah is the probable maximum flood (PMF) resulting from the local storm probable maximum precipitation (PMP) event. Commonly, the Soil Conservation Service (SCS) curve number method is used to determine the PMF from the local storm PMP. An important factor in this determination is the assumption of antecedent moisture conditions (AMC) existing immediately prior to the onset of the PMP event. At one northern Utah dam site the use of AMC III increased the PMF peak flowrate by 50 percent over the peak obtained when AMC II was used (Win 1993). In this study we explore the occurrence of AMC II (average) and III (saturated) conditions at locations throughout Utah. The occurrence of AMC II or III, which is defined by the magnitude of rainfall over the previous five days, is shown to be independent of the magnitude of precipitation on the sixth day. Also, the probability of occurrence of AMC II and III during the critical months for local storm PMP is shown to be low. While these conclusions do not rule out the possibility of the joint occurrence of a PMP event and AMC III, they do demonstrate that it is an unlikely event. If AMC II is accepted for use in local storm PMF determinations in Utah, a significant reduction in Utah PMF peak flowrates can be expected. In any event, this study should be an important contribution to the evaluation of dam safety in Utah through providing a better basis for the selection of AMC conditions in PMF determinations. Throughout the course of this research, we have chosen to take the conservative approach to the study. It is the intent of this research to evaluate the use of AMC II or III in semi-arid and arid Utah. Trends were evaluated using upper limits instead of averages and snowmelt was included as a contributor to soil saturation. It is our belief that if one can disprove a theory or practice by being conservative, it is a much stronger case than if a more liberal approach were taken