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Experiences With Infant Mortality As Reported By Middle Class Black Women In Their Own Words, Lisa Paisley-Cleveland
Experiences With Infant Mortality As Reported By Middle Class Black Women In Their Own Words, Lisa Paisley-Cleveland
Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects
Black Middle-Class Women and Pregnancy Loss: A Qualitative Inquiry is the first qualitative research case study of its kind on Black Infant Mortality (BIM) to focus on a target group of black American-born middle-class professional married women who have all lived through the experience of infant loss. This target group allows Lisa Paisley-Cleveland to examine the BIM phenomenon outside the poverty paradigm and issues attached to teenage pregnancy, as well as to explore contributing factors attached to the persistent black and white disparity in infant mortality rates, which according to CDC’s January 2013 report are 12.40 and 5.35 respectively.
This …
Children's Tolerance Of Word-Form Variation, Paul Reeves Breuning
Children's Tolerance Of Word-Form Variation, Paul Reeves Breuning
Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects
This study compared children's (N=96, mean age 4;1, range 2;8-5;3) and adults' (N=96, mean age 21 years) tolerance of word-onset modifications (e.g., wabbit and warabbit) and pseudo affixes (e.g., kocat and catko) in a label extension task. Trials comprised an introductory phase where children saw a picture of an animal and were told its name, and a test phase where they were shown the same picture along with one of a different animal. For `similar-name' trials, participants heard a word-form modification of the previously introduced name (e.g., introduced to a dib, they were asked, `which animal is a wib?'). For …
Doing Good By Doing Well? The Political Economy Of The Medical Biotechnology Industry In The United States, Volker Lehmann
Doing Good By Doing Well? The Political Economy Of The Medical Biotechnology Industry In The United States, Volker Lehmann
Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects
This study is dedicated to the political economy of the medical biotechnology industry in the United States. The study combines interviews with more than 150 biotechnology actors with a historical analysis and evidence from publicly available data bases. The ascent of this new industry took place in the United States first and foremost, because there, scientific advancements coincided with the rise of supply-side economics, a policy shift that was part of a larger, neoliberal, ideological shift. Despite free-market rhetoric, specific clusters within the United States became the world's leading biotechnology clusters because of a history of targeted interventions to stimulate …
Default Risk, Zeynep Topaloglu
Default Risk, Zeynep Topaloglu
Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects
The hazard rate models used in recent bankruptcy literature assume censoring and default are two independent events, which means the censored company will eventually default. However we believe there will be a portion in the censored group that will be long-term survivors and we propose a mixture model of survivors and risky companies. Moreover this dissertation models the event and the timing of default incident at the same time. For the event of default and the timing of default we utilize a logistic regression. The results have justified the advantage of our model over the standard hazard rate models and …
“We Went To The Hills": Four Afghan Life Stories, James M. Weir
“We Went To The Hills": Four Afghan Life Stories, James M. Weir
Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects
This dissertation examines four Afghan life stories for prevalent micro-historical perspectives on shared Afghan macro-historical experiences. The introduction explains my background, motivations and objectives for conducting life history research in Afghanistan in 2004 and 2005. The first chapter outlines an approach applied to examining life stories that addresses three interrelated questions: first, how the narrator's presentation is related to the memory of the actual events narrated (biographical chronology), second, how a narrative image/s of a person's past is established in relationships to individually significant audience/s (narrative self / audience), and third, how interrelationships between the individual …
Three Essays On The Determinants Of Foreign Direct Investment (Fdi), Haitao Liang
Three Essays On The Determinants Of Foreign Direct Investment (Fdi), Haitao Liang
Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects
At first, a literature review of over 150 articles on the determination of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) proposes the main determinants of FDI. A meta-analysis tests the reliability of the previous studies on FDI.
Then, a cluster analysis on FDI data reveals the necessary to segment economies, especially by income level, in FDI analysis.
A large number of studies emphasize FDI determinants but ignore the income distribution on the results, which biases the estimates. In Chapter 3, I correct for heterogeneity due to income distribution by using the Blundell-Bond System GMM (Generalized Method of Moments), which controls for endogeneity problem …
Essays In Corporate Finance, Milos Vulanovic
Essays In Corporate Finance, Milos Vulanovic
Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects
This dissertation consists of two essays on corporate finance. In the first essay we test the pecking order theory by examining how firms finance maturing long-term debt. This allows us to accomplish three goals: resolve the issues of debt capacity and the endogeneity of financing deficit; examine the role of internal financing; and generate evidence regarding the order in which different sources of financing are used. We determine that firms use internal funds before they issue new debt to refinance maturing long-term debt. Firms with more cash on hand are less likely to issue new debt to refinance. On average, …
The Impact Of Mood Disorders On Cognitive Function In Post-Menopausal Women Undergoing Treatment For Early-Stage Breast Cancer, Margery E. Frosch
The Impact Of Mood Disorders On Cognitive Function In Post-Menopausal Women Undergoing Treatment For Early-Stage Breast Cancer, Margery E. Frosch
Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects
PURPOSE: Many post-menopausal women who are treated for early-stage breast cancer report experiencing cognitive difficulties following adjuvant chemotherapy. However, the generalizability of the results of a number of studies that have attempted to document the association between adjuvant chemotherapy and cognitive dysfunction has been limited due to inconsistencies in the investigative methods used, thus introducing the possibility that other factors are contributing to reports of cognitive problems. The current study examines the possibility that a history of mood disorders in post-menopausal breast cancer patients predisposes them to cognitive difficulties following adjuvant treatment. METHODS: Sixty-five postmenopausal women with non-metastatic breast cancer …
Railroads And Economies Of Scale And Scope In U.S. Manufacturing Industries: 1850-1880. Chandler Revisited, Michael Kalson
Railroads And Economies Of Scale And Scope In U.S. Manufacturing Industries: 1850-1880. Chandler Revisited, Michael Kalson
Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects
This study concerns the measurement and quantification of the relationship between railroadization in the United States in the mid-19th century and the subsequent evolution of the modern, large-scale, corporate form of industrial business organization marked by significant economies of scale and scope, as described in various writings by Alfred Chandler. Focusing on American industry as it developed from 1850-1880 using data uniquely suited to empirical analysis of economies of scale and scope, its aim is to determine whether the growth of the American railroad network, as Chandler contended, expanded markets and augmented the American financial sector such that the …
The Effect Of Teaching Attending To A Face On Joint Attention Skills In Children With An Autism Spectrum Disorder, Tina Rovito Gomez
The Effect Of Teaching Attending To A Face On Joint Attention Skills In Children With An Autism Spectrum Disorder, Tina Rovito Gomez
Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects
Autism spectrum disorders are characterized in terms of behavioral deficits in areas of social behavior and language development. A failure to attend to the faces of others is the single best discriminator between 1-year-old children later diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and those with typical development. Attending to the face of another provides the opportunity for episodes of attention sharing and is important to the development of communication, joint attention, and social behavior. A more advanced form of attending to a face is joint attention which has been defined as the ability to coordinate attention between an object …
Semi-Supervised Learning For Connectionist Networks, Rebecca Robare
Semi-Supervised Learning For Connectionist Networks, Rebecca Robare
Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects
At the computational level, language is often assumed to require both supervised and unsupervised learning. Although we have a certain understanding of these computational processes both biologically and behaviorally, our understanding of the environmental conditions under which language learning takes place falls short. I examine the semi-supervised learning paradigm as the most accurate computational description of the environmental conditions of lexical acquisition during language development. This paradigm is assessed for task learning and generalization and I argue that its real ecological validity and occasional improvements in performance over supervised learning make it an ideal candidate for modeling of language acquisition …
The Interaction Of Intensity And Deviance On Auditory Event-Related Potentials: Findings Using Principal Component Analysis (Pca) Of Current Source Densities (Csds), Nathan A. Gates
Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects
Mismatch negativity (MMN) studies provide insights into the brain's ability to perceive and/or detect deviations from established sensory patterns. Clinical studies investigating the loudness-dependency of auditory evoked potential (LDAEP) have shown a relationship between the intensity of an auditory stimulus and neuro-physiological or -chemical activity of the primary auditory cortex. Unfortunately, these two bodies of literature remain disjointed. The present study integrates elements of each body of literature to a) investigate the impact of varying levels of intensity deviance on N1/P2 with a standard set of intensities used in LDAEP paradigms, and b) assess the extent to which deviance-related processes …
"If You See Something, Say Something": The Power Of The 'War On Terrorism' To Name What We See, Polly Sylvia
"If You See Something, Say Something": The Power Of The 'War On Terrorism' To Name What We See, Polly Sylvia
Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects
This dissertation seeks to understand the cultural politics of the "war on terrorism" through a case study of the "If You See Something, Say Something" campaign within the New York City Metropolitan Transit Authority Subway System. Drawing upon literature that focuses on an understanding of the affective transmission of culture, this research seeks to understand this particular campaign as a technique of social control. Through a content analysis of the advertisements of this campaign and a performative methodology that analyzes the performance of security within the subway system, an understanding of the connections this local campaign (as a security campaign) …
Moderator Effects Of Working Memory On Symptom Stability In Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder By Dopamine D1 And D2 Receptor Polymorphisms During Development, Joey W. Trampush
Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects
Background: Developmental changes in dopaminergic pathways in the prefrontal cortex (PFC) that are important for working memory have been hypothesized to play a central role in the trajectory of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), but not the initial onset of the disorder. This dissertation research examines whether dopamine receptor D1 (DRD1) and dopamine receptor D2 (DRD2) gene polymorphisms moderate the association between improvements in working memory and declines in attention problems in ADHD from childhood to adolescence/young adulthood. Methods: Participants were 76 racially/ethnically diverse youth diagnosed with ADHD in childhood and followed prospectively for almost 10 years. Stability of ADHD symptomatology …
Qualitative And Quantitative X-Ray Diffraction Analysis For Forensic Examination Of Duct Tapes, Rebecca E. Bucht
Qualitative And Quantitative X-Ray Diffraction Analysis For Forensic Examination Of Duct Tapes, Rebecca E. Bucht
Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects
Duct tapes are an increasingly important class of forensic evidence. This research has studied the value of using x-ray diffraction (XRD) to extend the ability of evidence examiners to gain additional information about a duct tape specimen.
Duct tapes are composed of five different layers. Starting from the non-adhesive side, these layers are the release coating, backing, scrim, primer and adhesive. The release coating assists in reducing unwind tension and preventing the tape from sticking to itself when on a roll. The backing layer serves as a support for the adhesive, and is usually based on polyethylene. The scrim is …
Essays On Economic Policy: Income Inequality And Health Insurance, Eric Doviak
Essays On Economic Policy: Income Inequality And Health Insurance, Eric Doviak
Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects
This dissertation contains economic analyses of two critical social issues facing the United States at the dawn of the 21st century: income inequality and the affordability of health insurance.
The chapter on income inequality uses the Solow Model of economic growth to model the evolution of inequality over time. In steady state, differences in household saving rates generate differences in household capital income. Households that save more accumulate more capital and have higher steady-state income. Tax policy affects the distribution of income through its influence on household saving rates. Increasing the tax rate on labor income causes a greater percentage …