A Degree Is A Part Of The Puzzle, But Only A Piece.” Understanding How Employers Determine The Value Of Academic Credentials

With the skyrocketing costs of higher education and the increased scrutiny of how educational institutions prepare graduates for the workplace, this dissertation explored how the “outsiders,” or employers, view and determine the value of academic credentials. Using the premise of credentialism, this grounded theory, qualitative study addressed two major questions; first, how do employees evaluate academic credentials, and second, what factors are important to employers? Through the interviews, it was discovered that there were gray areas when determining the value of a college credential. There were three critical findings. First, college degrees are a valuable credential, yet there are issues that may deter its acceptance. Second, employers are seeking the softer skill set in new employees. Finally, the overriding attribute of a “culture fit” is critical. Five themes emerged from the research: the background of the human resource professionals who participated in the study, the positions hired for and processes of hiring, the evaluation of applicants, the evaluation of credentials, and finally, the enhancement of college experiences for employment. The research found five clear implications. First, it suggests the importance of a liberal arts education in developing soft skills. Second, there is a need to address the academy and real-world disconnect. Third, there is a need to enhance experiential learning in a multitude of capacities. Fourth there are strong implications for instructors administrators, professors and the greater campus community. Finally and perhaps most importantly there are strong implications for students

ENVIRONMENTAL IMPLICATIONS OF UBIQUITOUS DICARBOXYLIC ACID AEROSOL AND BIOMASS BURNING GENERATED REACTIVE NITROGEN

Aerosols impact our lives in many different ways, including the health of our species,visibility and the global climate. In terms of climate effects, large uncertainty still exists surrounding the combined influence of aerosols on the Earth’s radiative budget. This highlights the importance of research that seeks to better understand atmospheric aerosols and associated gas phase compounds, as advances in the field will allow for the production of more accurate climate models. In laboratory studies, great variability in reported deliquescence relative humidity (DRH) warrants the need for new methods of analysis. A custom built electrobalance with variable active particle humidity control (EVAP-HC) allows for the experimental correlation between droplet growth or evaporation and relative humidity. Using EVAP-HC the DRH for glutaric and malonic acid, species relevant to atmospheric aerosol, were determined to be 90.4 ± 0.3 and 80.2 ± 0.3, respectively. While there are a variety of experimental techniques that can be used to observe the hygroscopic nature of aerosol, cavity ring-down spectroscopy (CRDS) coupled with humidification allows for a comparison of light interactions under dry and humidified environmental conditions. Results indicate a statistically significant enhancement of fRHext by 47%, corresponding to a 14% difference in reported growth factors (GF), for malonic acid that was dried in the bulk phase prior to dry-generation compared with malonic acid that was dry- generated as is, directly from the storage bottle. This finding signifies the importance of sample preparation for aerosol studies utilizing dry-generation. Biomass burning is a primary emission source for a host of gas- and aerosol-phase compounds, which can damage environmental and human health. During the Fire Influence on Regional to Global Environments and Air Quality (FIREX-AQ) campaign in July and August of 2019, reactive nitrogen species were measured (NOx, NO2, HONO, HNO3 & p-NO3-), in wildfire plumes aboard NASA Langley’s Mobile Aerosol Characterization Laboratory (MACH-2). Daytime far-field smoke contained statistically higher or equivalent HONO to PM2.5 (particles that have aerodynamic diameter less than 2.5 micrometers) ratios compared to near-field smoke from the same fires. In the largest fire sampled during the day, UV-A irradiation was highly correlated (R2 = 0.9) with HONO to nitrogen dioxide (NO2) ratios indicating that photoenhanced NO2 to HONO conversion, likely facilitated by ground surfaces (e.g. soil, foliage, and dust), more than compensated for rapid photolytic loss of HONO

Reassessing the prehistoric ceramics of the Late Neolithic and Transitional Chalcolithic periods in the Central Plateau of Iran: Archaeometric Characterisation, Typological Classification and Stylistic Phylogenetic analyses

This thesis introduce new approaches into the understanding of chronology and cultural-technological development of the Neolithic and Chalcolithic settlements within the Central Plateau of Iran through the study of the evolution of ceramic craft specialisation between ca. 5700-4800 BC by analysing newly excavated pottery from the different three areas of this region: the Tehran, Qazvin and Kashan plains. Despite having been investigated for almost 90 years, the prehistoric ceramics of the Central Iranian Plateau have mainly been studied in a basic manner, based on the study of colour and decoration of pottery as the criteria to identify, characterise, and compare the various pottery types of the region with little attention to technology and production. In the present thesis a multidisciplinary research method has been adopted by utilising scientific analysis technics such as X-ray Diffraction (XRD), X-ray fluorescence (XRF) and scanning electron microscope (SEM) as well as typological classification and more advanced methods such as phylogenetic analyses in studying and characterisation the pottery. Based on the results of scientific analyses as well as the archaeological data this research will provide valuable information on the course of evolution and the origin of the changes observed in ceramic technology, and will determine the level of specialisation and standardisation in the pottery-making, as well as the mode of production in these prehistoric sites. Through comparison of the pottery characteristics from different sites of the same tradition it will also assess the similarity of sources of raw materials and the techniques of shaping and firing the pottery. Utilising the valuable information gathered by the aforementioned methods this thesis represents a more comprehensive and reliable information concerning the economic and cultural connections and interactions of the prehistoric communities living in this region in the Late Neolithic and the Transitional Chalcolithic periods

The Moderating Effect of Network Centrality on the Relationship Between Work Experience Variables and Organizational Commitment

The purpose of this research was to identify the effect of an individual\u27s network position on the relationship between work experience variables and affective commitment. This study tested three hypotheses, which were introduced through a comprehensive literature review, regarding the relationships between work experience variables and affective commitment. Research has indicated linkages between social network centrality and organizational commitment; however, the specific effects of centrality remain unclear. Therefore, this research developed and tested a moderation model to identify relationships between network centrality, affective commitment, and three work experience variables: psychological empowerment (PE), leader-member exchange (LMX), and perceived organizational support (POS). The moderation results suggest that network centrality significantly influences the relationship between PE and AC as well as POS and AC. While there was an indication that network centrality also influences the LMX - AC relationship, the results shown in this study were found to be insignificant

Greenhouse Gas and Nitrogen Inventory Report for Municipal and School Operations

The City of Dover recognizes the many challenges that a changing climate presents and acknowledges that municipalities have a responsibility to lead adaptation and greenhouse gas reduction efforts at the local level. Through a University of New Hampshire Sustainability Fellowship undertaken by UNH doctoral student Jackson Kaspari, the City of Dover has become the first municipality in North America to complete a baseline footprint for both greenhouse gas (GHG) and nitrogen impacts of local government operations. This inventory informs Dover’s policymakers, residents, property owners, and business owners on how to best introduce mitigation measures, helping Dover contribute to a global effort. Conducting a GHG and nitrogen inventory serves the following purposes: allows for the development of a baseline to which further GHG and nitrogen analyses can be compared, leads to the identification of opportunities to improve energy efficiency, leads to the identification of opportunities to reduce nitrogen releases to the environment, demonstrates climate change leadership through the development of reduction targets, and increases the general transparency and consistency of GHG and nitrogen accounting and reporting among institutions. This carbon and nitrogen footprint baseline was compiled through the utilization of two online tools: the Environmental Protection Agency’s Portfolio Manager and the University of New Hampshire’s Sustainability Indicator Management and Analysis Platform (SIMAP). The inventory is organized into categories, or sectors, which represent the major sources of carbon and nitrogen emissions. Most sectors contribute to both types of emissions. The sectors analyzed in this report include: stationary fuels, purchased electricity, the municipal fleet, employee commuting, employee travel, fertilizer and animals, school cafeteria food, solid waste, paper use, transmission and distribution losses, and wastewater treatment. In addition to analyzing the energy use and GHG impacts for each sector, the City’s energy costs have also been calculated for both 2016 and 2017. Overall, municipal operations generated 9,896 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent (MT of C02e) in 2016 and 9,560 MT of C02e in 2017, representing a 3.4% reduction from year to year. Reactive nitrogen released to the environment was 40 MT and 42.3 MT in 2016 and 2017, respectively, a 5.4% increase. Figures for each sector and each year are included, and the likely causes of increases or reductions are presented. This inventory concludes with models of the impact of projects that are already underway as well as reduction scenarios that the City and schools may opt to pursue. It also includes recommendations for improving upon data collection in future years and appendices detailing energy use at each facility

Metabolism And The Rise Of Fungus Cultivation By Ants

Most ant colonies are comprised of workers that cooperate to harvest resources and feed developing larvae. Around 50 million years ago (MYA), ants of the attine lineage adopted an alternative strategy, harvesting resources used as compost to produce fungal gardens. While fungus cultivation is considered a major breakthrough in ant evolution, the associated ecological consequences remain poorly understood. Here, we compare the energetics of attine colony-farms and ancestral hunter-gatherer colonies using metabolic scaling principles within a phylogenetic context. We find two major energetic transitions. First, the earliest lower-attine farmers transitioned to lower mass-specific metabolic rates while shifting significant fractions of biomass from ant tissue to fungus gardens. Second, a transition 20 MYA to specialized cultivars in the higher-attine clade was associated with increased colony metabolism (without changes in garden fungal content) and with metabolic scaling nearly identical to hypometry observed in hunter-gatherer ants, although only the hunter-gatherer slope was distinguishable from isometry. Based on these evolutionary transitions, we propose that shifting living-tissue storage from ants to fungal mutualists provided energetic storage advantages contributing to attine diversification and outline critical assumptions that, when tested, will help link metabolism, farming efficiency, and colony fitness.Integrative Biolog

Black Carbon Concentrations in Snow at Tronsen Meadow in Central Washington from 2012 to 2013: Temporal and Spatial Variations and the Role of Local Forest Fire Activity

Characterizing black carbon (BC) concentrations in the seasonal snowpack is of interest because BC deposition on snow can reduce albedo and accelerate melt. In Washington State, USA snowmelt from the seasonal snowpack provides an important source of water resources, but minimal work has been done characterizing BC concentrations in snow in this region. BC concentrations in snow were monitored over two winters (2012 and 2013) at Tronsen Meadow, located near Blewett Pass in the eastern Cascade Mountains in Central Washington, to characterize spatial and temporal variations in BC concentrations, and the processes affecting BC concentrations in the snowpack. BC concentrations were measured using a Single Particle Soot Photometer. Snowpit BC concentrations at spatial scales ranging from centimeter to 100m scales were fairly homogenous during the accumulation season, with greater spatial variability during the melt season due to variable melt patterns. BC concentrations in snow increased in late winter-spring due to an increase in atmospheric BC concentrations and trapping of BC on the snow surface during melt. However, during a period of intense melt in 2013 BC concentrations decreased, likely caused by meltwater scavenging. In summer 2012 the Table Mountain forest fire burned adjacent to the study site, and BC concentrations in the snowpack in 2013 were far higher than in previous years, with charred trees postfire the likely source of the elevated BC

Mass and Number Size Distributions of rBC in Snow and Firn Samples From Pine Island Glacier, West Antarctica

An extended‐range Single Particle Soot Photometer (SP2) coupled to a Marin‐5 nebulizer was used to measure the refractory black carbon (rBC) mass and number size distributions in 1,004 samples from a West Antarctica snow/firn core. The SP2 was calibrated using Aquadag and a Centrifugal Particle Mass Analyzer for BC particles ranging from 0.5 to 800 fg. Our results indicate a significant contribution of rare, large particles of mass‐equivalent diameter (DBC) \u3e 500 nm to the total rBC mass (36%), while small particles (DBC \u3c 100 nm) are abundant but contribute \u3c8% to total rBC mass. We observed a primary mass median diameter of 162 ± 40 nm, smaller than reported for snow in other regions of the globe but similar to East Antarctica rBC size distributions. In addition, we observed other modes at 673, 1,040, and \u3e1,810 nm (uncontained mode). We compared two sets of samples from different seasons (wet vs. dry) and observed that dry season concentrations are 3.4 and 2 times that of the wet season in the ranges of 80 nm \u3c DBC \u3c 500 nm (small particles) and 500 nm \u3c DBC \u3c 2,000 nm (large particles), respectively, while number of particles in the dry season is 3.5 and 2 times that of the wet season for the same size ranges. Millimeter thick melt layers have been observed in some samples, although they did not change the observed median diameter. This study provides the first detailed rBC mass and number size distribution from West Antarctica