This study sought to connect two bodies of knowledge--integrative complexity and attribution theory. Integrative complexity is a term that indicates the simplicity vs. complexity of a person's mental frame and perceptual skill. A person who perceives nuance and subtle differences typically scores higher on an integrative complexity measure. Attribution theories are concerned with how individuals perceive causation for various events. The limited research into the linkages between perceived causation for an event and how complexly a person thinks about the domain of that event, coupled with the dearth of attribution research in the natural resource management literature, inspired this research. Florida Keys coral reef users were sent a mail questionnaire between July 2009 and March 2010. Integrative complexity level was determined using an index that was developed for this research. Based on attributional and cognitive complexity literature, it was hypothesized that people who score lower in integrative complexity would exhibit an "external" attribution pattern. Integrative complexity was also proposed to influence: attitude and value extremity; number of perceived problem causes; and use of mediated communication. Finally, it was hypothesized that individuals will assign more blame to other groups than to their own. Six of the study's seven null hypotheses were rejected: 1) a significant relationship was found between integrative complexity level and the number of causes that respondents recorded for the decline of the Florida Keys reef ecosystem, 2) significant differences were observed in attitude extremity according to integrative complexity, 3) significant differences were observed in value orientation according to integrative complexity, 4) significant differences were observed in value extremity according to integrative complexity level, 5) significant differences were observed in mediated communication according to integrative complexity level, and 6) significant differences were observed in blame pattern according to group affiliation. Only one null hypothesis was not rejected: no support was found for a connection between integrative complexity and attribution style. These results indicate support for the integrative complexity index, though work to refine the measure seems in order. Additional recommendations for future research include investigating new approaches to examining the relationship between integrative complexity and attribution style.

The purpose of this three-essay dissertation is to synthesize and extend the effects of decentralization in decision-making and supply chain complexity in the context of supply chain resilience (SCRES).First essay contributes to theory and practice by expanding resilience thinking into including supply chain orientation and organizational structure and their implications and also responds to prior research arguing for the importance of identifying organizational factors that improve supply chain resilience. Second essay contributes to the supply chain organizational structure and SCRES literature by not just providing empirical support for decentralization of decision making in times of disruptions but more precisely by showing the factors that either impede or facilitate decentralization at the organizational level. Understanding the interplay among these factors is critical to explaining the lack of success for decentralization in the context of SCRES. Third essay contributes to practice by reviewing some of the major complexity drivers present in the supply chains and providing strategies along with a four-step process that practitioners can use to manage complexity.

The causes of violent conflicts in Ethiopia in general, and in Gambella in particular, are complex. Critically examining and explaining the causes entails going beyond labelling them solely in terms of one variable, such as 'ethnic conflict‘. The contestation of the study is that contemporary conflicts in Ethiopia have remained protracted, untransformed and recurring. This is largely because the past processes which gave rise to them were not properly taken into account and not properly comprehended, thereby giving rise to much superficiality in their explanations, inappropriate policies and a failure of efforts at apprehending them. The thesis identifies four major factors and two contrasting narratives which have framed the analysis of conflict complexity in Gambella. Qualitatively designed, the study focuses mainly on the structural causes of violent conflicts since 1991 and how their constituent elements were conceived and explained by different actors. First, asymmetrical centre-periphery relations entrenched in the state building processes of the imperial and military regimes, continued under the present regime rendering Gambella an object of extraction and repression. Consequently, competing claims of ownership of Gambella between the Anywaa and the Nuer ethnic groups evolved entailing shifting allegiances to the central government. Second, ethnic politics of the new social contract ushered in a new thinking of ‗each ethnic group for itself‘; it made ethnic federalism a means of consolidating the regime‘s political philosophy, depriving the local community of a genuine political representation, leading to broader, deeper and more serious violence. Third, land policy of the incumbent favoured its political party affiliates and foreign investors, thus inducing more violence. Finally, external dynamics impacted on internal conflict complexity. The study has argued that single factor approaches are inadequate to explain what has constituted violent conflicts in Gambella since 1991; it has concluded that internal conflicts are complex, and their constituent elements are conceived of, and explained, differently by the local peoples and different levels of government. Nevertheless, given commitment and a political will, the local and national governments, as well as peoples at grassroots level, have the capacity to transform the present, and to prevent future violent conflicts in the region.

<p>Persistence and graduation rates continue to be important student success outcomes for engineering programs. In part, these outcomes reflect the effectiveness of the educational experience that has been delivered to the students. This educational experience is shaped by three main factors: 1) the organizational context, 2) the peer environment, and 3) the individual student experience. Prior research on student persistence in engineering has primarily focused on peer interactions and individual student experiences, while the organizational context has not received as much attention. Yet, engineering colleges and departments have a large degree of control over their organizational contexts which can be strategically managed to promote student success.</p> <p><br></p> <p>This work investigated the relationship between organizational features of engineering programs and two student success outcomes: 1) program persistence after one academic year and, 2) engineering graduation. Student data included sociodemographics and academic records for the 2011 and 2012 engineering cohorts at a single institution. Organizational features that were evaluated included compositional diversity of students and instructors, gateway courses, program size and scale, and the curriculum. To operationalize the organizational features of the curriculum, the curricular complexity framework was used (Heileman et al., 2018). To enhance this framework, a novel method to measure the instructional complexity of a curriculum was proposed. This method determined the difficulty of a course using a performance metric called grade anomaly rather than the traditional DFW rate (the percentage of students who earn grades of D, F or withdraw). A student’s grade anomaly in a specific course is calculated relative to their performance in their other courses. A course grade anomaly is the mean grade anomaly of students in a course, and a curricular grade anomaly is the mean course grade anomaly across a curriculum. Results showed that course grade anomaly measured a different aspect of the curriculum than DFW rate and was more robust.</p> <p><br></p> <p>Multilevel models were used to determine which organizational variables influenced a student’s likelihood of program persistence and engineering graduation after accounting for individual-level factors. Program size was positively associated with both outcomes, but class size</p> <p>had no effect. Gender and racial diversity in the student population had positive effects as well. More gateway courses in the curriculum had a negative impact on both outcomes, and a larger curricular DFW rate had a negative impact on engineering graduation only. The structural complexity of a curriculum had no influence on either outcome. Lastly, curricular grade anomaly had a negative effect on both outcomes, meaning students in more difficult programs were more likely to persist in the program and graduate from engineering.</p> <p><br></p> <p>These results indicate that organizational features can affect student success, and engineering faculty should consider these features when evaluating their students’ outcomes. Gender and racial diversity should be prioritized because it is beneficial for all students. The number of gateway courses should be minimized, and students should be given proper academic support to pass their difficult courses. The finding that students in more difficult programs had higher likelihoods of program persistence and engineering graduation was unexpected, and it</p> <p>raised questions about the properties of curricular grade anomaly and the cultural influences of engineering education. In this work, this finding was interpreted as evidence for the meritocracy of difficulty in engineering, where students place value on academic hardship which can affect their motivation to succeed. This interpretation raises further questions about how cultures in engineering education impact the organizational features of engineering programs. Furthermore, it invites scholars to investigate other organizational features that may play a role in student persistence.</p>

Part I: Low complexity regions (LCRs) are common motifs in eukaryotic proteins, despite the fact that they are also mutationally unstable. For LCRs to be widely used and tolerated there must be regulatory mechanisms which compensate for their presence. I have endeavored to characterize the relationships and co-evolution of LCRs with the abundance of the proteins that host them as well as the transcripts which encode them. As the abundance of a gene product is ultimately responsible for its associated phenotype, any relationships have implications for the many neurodegenerative diseases associated with LCR expansion. I found that there are indeed relationships. LCRs are more associated with low abundance proteins, but the opposite is true at the RNA level: LCRs encoding transcripts have higher abundance. Investigating the co-evolution of LCRs and transcript abundance revealed that on short evolutionary timescales indels in LCRs influence the selective pressures on TAb. Viewing LCRs through the previously unexplored lens of abundance has generated new results. Results which, together with explorations of information flow and low-complexity in untranslated regions, expand our knowledge of the functional impacts of LCRs evolution. Part II: A commonly encountered problem in DNA sequencing is a situation where the DNA of interest makes up a small proportion of the DNA in a sample. This challenge can be compounded when the DNA of interest may come from many different organisms. Targeted metagenomics is a set of techniques which aim to bias sequencing results towards the DNA of interest. Many of these techniques rely on carefully designed probes which are specific to targets of interest. I have developed a bioinformatic tool, HUBDesign, to design oligonucleotide probes to capture identifying sequences from a given set of targets of interest. Using HUBDesign, and other methods, I have contributed to projects ranging in context from clinical to ancient DNA. / Thesis / Doctor of Science (PhD) / This thesis describes research in two fields: repetitive protein sequences and methods for sequencing the portions of a sample in which one is most interested. In the first part I describe the general properties of repetitive proteins, establish a connection between the presence of repeats in a protein and the amount of that protein which a cell maintains, and show that these two quantities evolve together. This informs our understanding of evolution and regulation with implications for repeat related diseases and further evolutionary research. In the second part I describe a method for selecting short nucleotide sequences which can be used to capture specifically the DNA of organisms of interest, as well as applications of this and other methods. These contributions are widely applicable as targeted sequencing is useful in fields as far apart as clinical sepsis diagnosis and determining the colour of ancient animals.

This study examines the origins of complex societies in Mesoamerican archaeology, and the “mother culture” versus “sister cultures” debate and whether or not the sharing of ideas and materials, from one or multiple sources, catalyzed internal changes toward greater complexity for some early centers during Formative times, prior to the emergence of cities and states. The examination includes pottery analyses and other contextual observations from the Tayata site, in the Mixteca Alta region, as a marker for larger regional and macroregional developments, and as a means of evaluating the Olmec-centric (mother culture) versus pan-Mesoamerican (sister cultures) viewpoints. Tayata is an ideal case study to examine the emergence of complex societies and interregional interaction for early Mesoamerica because of its initial dates of occupation, its location in one of the “nuclear areas” in the emergence of Mesoamerican civilization, and because of its relationships with other regions and contemporaneous sites. The central research question guiding this study concerns the origin of early decorated, well-finished pottery in the Mixteca Alta, and whether they were imported products from other regions, or local copies, or if it was a simultaneous and mutually influential tradition present not only in the Mixteca Alta and greater Oaxaca area but also in different Mesoamerican regions. The focus of this study is Area A of Tayata, where excavations in 2004 revealed one of the largest pre-urban Formative centers in the Mixteca Alta. Tayata’s growth in social complexity is evident by 900/850 BC, when the site expanded significantly and initiated the construction of non-residential buildings and public spaces far in excess of prior phases of occupation. This data set includes architectural features and other deposits, which permit an analysis that compares the presence, and characteristics of pottery in different contexts. Data generated from this study come from 166 sherds selected for macroscopic fabric analysis, then 141 used for portable X-ray fluorescence analysis (pXRF), and then 60 for applying instrumental neutron activation analysis (INAA), show relevant and potential conclusions to understand the local, regional and macroregional exchange and production of pottery. The sample includes utilitarian vessels, such as tecomates, jars, and braziers, and non-utilitarian vessels, such as well-finished vessels of gray and white wares, and focus on pan-Mesoamerican pottery styles identified across Early and Middle Formative times. Samples were from diverse contexts excavated at two different compounds, where Compound 1 shows the earliest material (ca. 1400 BC) and presents clear evidence of multi-craft production; and Compound 2 has later occupation, from Middle Formative to the beginning of Late/Terminal Formative, and its contexts correspond to an elite residence, an adjacent temple, and cremated human and animal burials. Multiple lines of evidence, including pottery production, multicrafting, goods and routes of exchange, architecture, and funerary practices, support the idea that Tayata in the Mixteca Alta, was immersed in social transformations observed across different regions during the Early/Middle Formative (ca. 1400 – 350 BC). Tayata’s interactions with multiple areas related to its local development, showing particularly similarities with the Central Valley of Oaxaca in public constructions, such as the one-room temple, and rituals, such as feasting and funerary practices. Results of macroscopic, contextual, and compositional analyses from Tayata’s pottery, show that pottery production at this site followed both regional and macroregional traditions. Tayata’s imported pottery was primarily associated with a Pacific-coast exchange route that crossed the lowland coastal Isthmus of Tehuantepec, the mountainous Nejapa/Yautepec region, and the highland Central Valleys of Oaxaca, and from there reaching the north of the Mixteca Alta, being a corridor of influence in both goods and ideas to the Formative centers in the region.

Background: Pediatric chronic pain is prevalent and comes with diagnostic uncertainty and biopsychosocial complexity. The literature significantly lacks evidence and clinical guidance to inform triage decisions to interdisciplinary pediatric chronic pain programs, which likely impacts timely and appropriate access to much needed interdisciplinary care. Purpose: To methodically conduct foundational investigation into triage within interdisciplinary pediatric chronic pain programs to develop a preliminary series of Clinical Decision Support (CDS) triage tools grounded in evidence to facilitate nurses' triage decision-making. Methods: A pragmatic, multi-method study was conducted and fundamentally guided by the Knowledge to Action Framework (KTA). Included studies involved: 1) A modified Delphi study to attain expert consensus on the diagnostic expectations of pediatric patients referred to interdisciplinary chronic pain programs; 2) A systematic review of multidimensional biopsychosocial tools used in the pediatric chronic pain population, guided by the Multidimensional Biobehavioral Model of Pediatric Pain; and 3) An explorative descriptive qualitative study guided by the Cognitive Continuum Theory (CCT) and the Theoretical Domains Framework (TDF) to explore and describe the decision-making practices of and contextual influences on nurses triaging patients to interdisciplinary pediatric chronic pain programs. Findings: Following two survey rounds, the Delphi study demonstrated consensus on 84% of diagnostic items and general agreement regarding the diagnostic expectations of referred patients. The systematic review revealed six valid and reliable multidimensional biopsychosocial tools and highlighted 84 significant relationships between pain and functional interference across 11 biopsychosocial variables. The qualitative study emphasized the leading and complex triage role nurses lead in interdisciplinary pediatric chronic pain programs, and comprehensively described the triage process and determinants of the triage decision. Conclusions: Findings from the three studies have been integrated into the preliminary development of a series of CDS triage tools to be used in interdisciplinary pediatric chronic pain programs. This series offers decision guidance to accept or redirect care based on diagnostic clarity and a strategy to prioritize access to interdisciplinary care based on biopsychosocial needs. To determine clinical utility and validity of the tool, future research will target end-users to finalize tool development.

Ambiences that represent environments or landscapes play a crucial role in the soundtrack of a film when the geographic setting is important for the film’s narrative. When sound designers can encourage viewers to both notice and accept the environment displayed in the film, this can contribute to an immersive experience. Prior research has discussed how changes in the level of detail, or complexity, of ambiences and soundscapes can affect the perceived immersion of a film experience. This study aims to further investigate this topic by looking at how the complexity of a minor category of sound elements, environmental sounds, affects the immersiveness of a film scene. A listening/viewing test was conducted in a controlled studio environment where participants watched a video segment that was synced to two different versions of an environmental soundscape. One version was more complex than the other. All of the subjects watched and listened to the same video-soundscape combinations. Both quantitative and qualitative data were collected through an online questionnaire. The participants were asked to rate the video segments for immersion-related qualities and to motivate their ratings. The results did not show enough statistical significance to support the idea that a change in complexity affects all of the three qualities perceived presence, realism and how accurately the amount of sonic details matched the picture. However, the subjects’ motivations of their ratings for perceived presence and realism indicate that a detailed, layered soundscape that includes rarely occurring sound elements provides a stronger experience of presence and realism. Future research based on the findings from this study is presented.

The motivation of this thesis is to present new lower bounds for important computational problems on strings and graphs, conditioned on plausible conjectures in theoretical computer science. These lower bounds, called conditional lower bounds, are a topic of immense interest in the field of fine-grained complexity, which aims to develop a better understanding of the hardness of problems that can be solved in polynomial time. In this thesis, we give new conditional lower bounds for four interesting computational problems: the median and center string edit distance problems, the pattern matching on labeled graphs problem, and the subtree isomorphism problem. These problems are of interest in the applied topics of computational biology and information retrieval, as well as in theoretical computer science more broadly.

Background. Advances in healthcare have resulted in a growing population of Children with Medical Complexities (CMC). Medical management of the complex needs of CMC has traditionally taken place in hospital settings, such as clinics, emergency departments, and hospital wards, by specialized teams of healthcare clinicians. While access to expert-level care is necessary, the hospital-based model of care is expensive and inconvenient and has resulted in harms such as medical errors conferred upon CMC. Models of care that allow for expert-delivered hospital-to-home care for CMC are needed. The aim of this dissertation was to investigate the needs, performance, and perceptions of CMC families and clinicians when using a hospital-to-home digital health system called DigiComp Kids. Methods. This study was guided by A Holistic Framework to Improve the Uptake and Impact of eHealth Technologies, which attends to technological, human, and contextual variables influencing virtual care. A scoping review was conducted to provide an overview of how digital healthcare has been used with medically fragile children, before co-designing the DigiComp Kids system with CMC family members and clinicians. Usability testing of DigiComp Kids was conducted measuring user effectiveness, efficiency, satisfaction, and experiences. Results. Across studies in this dissertation, technological, human, and contextual factors each played a role in the usability of digital health systems, including DigiComp Kids. In the scoping review, these factors influenced the acceptability, accessibility, and implementation success of digital healthcare systems for CMC. During DigiComp Kids co-design and usability testing, participants emphasized how these factors affected their willingness to engage with the system, how it fit into their lives and workflows, and where improvements could be made. Conclusions. This study highlights the importance of engaging with end-users as well as attending to technological, human, and contextual factors when designing and testing digital health systems. / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)