2016 MU dissertations - Access restricted to MU
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Item Utilization-focused evaluation of the cohort-based ethical strategic leadership M.B.A. program offered by the Harmon College of Business and Professional Studies at the University of Central Missouri(University of Missouri--Columbia, 2016) Jensen, Daniel H.; Hutchinson, Sandra L. (Sandra Lynn), 1956-[ACCESS RESTRICTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI AT AUTHOR'S REQUEST.] Program assessment allows administrators to facilitate strategic changes that integrate external opportunities and internal capabilities for long-term viability and relevance of the program (Wells & Wells, 2011). In this dissertation, the framework of utilization-focused evaluation with a mixed methods approach was used to explore how a cohort-based MBA program for working professionals created outcomes in terms of leadership competency development, career enhancement, and organizational impact. Additionally, this study investigated the overall effectiveness and impact of the educational program itself in terms of marketing, recruitment, onboarding, course delivery, assessment, and adaptive change. The participants in this study consisted of six alumni, 20 current students, five administrators, and ten faculty members. Data collection methods included surveys, focus groups, and interviews. The basis for the alumni and student surveys was a researcher created assessment of sixteen leadership competencies and their importance in professional work. A combination of survey-based, open-ended questions, focus groups, and interviews were used to gain an understanding of stakeholder perceptions of program effectiveness and impact. The data revealed growth in all sixteen leadership competencies with "Building Trust," "Communication," and "Planning and Organizing" identified as being most important for current professional work. Substantial value creation generated by students as a result of participation in the program was not uncovered through this research. In terms of program effectiveness and impact, the general consensus revealed many program strengths, but in its current design, it is not an ideal fit for the stakeholders involved.Item Model-based recursive partitioning of structural equation models(University of Missouri--Columbia, 2016) You, Dongjun; Merkle, Edgar; Rouder, Jeffrey[ACCESS RESTRICTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI AT AUTHOR'S REQUEST.] The goal of this dissertation is to describe the algorithmic method of model-based recursive partitioning, and to compare different estimation techniques when the algorithm is applied to structural equation models. Model-based recursive partitioning (MOB) is an extended version of decision trees that can handle stochastic models. Thus, the method is intensive and involves estimation of stochastic models in every recursion (i.e., in every tree branch). We compare the two estimation methods of likelihood ratio test and generalized M-fluctuation test. The tests' background and implementation are detailed, and the tests' abilities to identify the population models are studied via simulation. A real-world example involving the tests is also provided, followed by a discussion of extensions and future development.Item Developing molecular docking methods to model protein interactions(University of Missouri--Columbia, 2016) Yan, Chengfei; Zou, Xiaoqin[ACCESS RESTRICTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI AT AUTHOR'S REQUEST.] In many cellular processes, proteins carry out their functions through interacting with other molecules, such as small compounds (i.e. ligands), peptides or other proteins. Computational modeling of these interactions with molecular docking has great applications in mechanistic investigation of protein binding and therapeutic development. This PhD dissertation presents my studies on developing molecular docking methods to model protein-ligand interactions and protein-peptide interactions. The studies include the improvement of statistical potential-based scoring functions for evaluating protein-ligand interactions, the development of a docking-based method for predicting peptide binding sites on protein surfaces, and the development of a fully blind docking method for predicting protein-peptide complex structures. The scoring functions are implemented in our docking software, and the peptide binding methods are implemented in web servers. Finally, for future work, the existing methods for modeling protein flexibility in molecular docking are reviewed in detail.Item Exploring the collective knowledge curation process of online health communities(University of Missouri--Columbia, 2016) Xing, Wanli; Goggins, Sean[ACCESS RESTRICTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI AT AUTHOR'S REQUEST.] More and more people turn to online health communities for social support to satisfy their health-related needs. Previous studies on social support and online health communities in general have focused on the content of social support and the relationship of social support with other entities using traditional social science methods. Little is known about how social support facilitate the knowledge curation process in an online health community. Moreover, the presence of misinformation in online health communities also calls for research into the knowledge curation process in order to reduce the risk of misinformation. This study uses data mining technologies to analyze around one million posts across 23 online health communities. It aims to reveal how information, through social support, flows between the community users working as a whole to dynamically curate knowledge and further interacts with information accuracy. This data-centric research in online health communities 1) discovered that xperiphery users instead of core users dominate the quantitative and content information flow; 2) identified three temporal information flow patterns for the knowledge curation process -- each with distinct characteristics; 3) found that information accuracy differed significantly over the identified information flow patterns and time and the information accuracy variation trends with each information flow pattern was identified as well. These findings not only have important implications for social support use, delivery and social support research methodologies but also can inform future online health platform design.Item Evaluation of swat-terrace performance for simulating the benefits of terraces on runoff and erosion(University of Missouri--Columbia, 2016) Thongpussawal, Sitarrine; Gantzer, Clark J.[ACCESS RESTRICTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI AT AUTHOR'S REQUEST.] Terracing is a conservation practice to reduce erosion and intercept runoff from steep lands. Terraces control erosion and runoff by dividing long slopes into shorter slopes; thus, decreasing slope length, which reduces the magnitude and velocity of concentrated flow and allows for sediment to deposit in the cut segment of the terraces. The Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) is a continuous time, semi-distributed, watershed scale hydrologic model widely used to evaluate runoff and erosion. To account for terrace effects on runoff and erosion, SWAT has relied on reducing the slope length, adjusting the empirical Universal Soil Erosion Equation (USLE) support practice factor (P-factor), and adjusting the hydrologic runoff Curve Number (CN). This tool has limitations, and the runoff and erosion may not be well estimated because of changes in land shape after terrace installation. A modification of the SWAT (called SWAT-Terrace or SWAT-T) explicitly simulates runoff and erosion from terraces by separating terraces into three segments instead of evaluating the entire terrace. SWAT-T aims to improve the simulation of the hydrologic process of runoff and erosion from terraces. The objectives of this work are to 1) evaluate the performance of SWAT-T for simulating the terrace benefits on runoff and erosion from the Goodwater Creek Experimental Watershed (GCEW) at the Hydrologic Response Unit (HRU) and watershed scales, and 2) compare terrace benefits on runoff and erosion estimated with SWAT and with SWAT-T in GCEW. The SWAT model was parameterized for the slope length, USLE P-factor, and the CN. The SWAT-T model was parameterized for slope length, steepness, and USLE P-factor for three terrace segments. Data from 1993-2010 measured at the watershed outlet were used to evaluate the models. To estimate terrace benefits on runoff and erosion, models were compared with and without terraces. Results of SWAT-T showed good performance for the monthly runoff, but poor performance for the monthly erosion. This is probably because of large storms in spring 2002 that prevented planting, causing poorly simulated scheduling of actual field operations. SWAT-T showed [about]2 percent reduction in runoff and [about]13 percent reduction in erosion at the HRU scale and showed 0.1 percent reduction of runoff and [about]3 percent reduction in erosion at the watershed scale. For comparison of terrace benefits on runoff and erosion estimated with SWAT and with SWAT-T, SWAT-T showed more benefit in runoff and erosion at the HRU scale compared to SWAT. Results of SWAT-T showed a 13 percent reduction in runoff and a 95 percent reduction in erosion with terrace installation. Conversely, SWAT showed only a 0.03 percent reduction in runoff and an 89 percent reduction in erosion. Studies using the SWAT-T model indicated that the model may be used for quantifying the terrace benefits on runoff and erosion from terraced-cropped HRUs and watershed scales. Terrace algorithm incorporated in SWAT (SWAT-T) allowed model estimated runoff and erosion trapping in the cut terraced segment leading to better estimation of runoff and erosion.