Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®
- Discipline
Articles 1 - 30 of 73
Full-Text Articles in Entire DC Network
Warriors, Guardians Or Both: A Grounded Theory Approach Of Exploring The Development Of Patrol Officers In Urban Community Relations, Kyle Znamenak
Warriors, Guardians Or Both: A Grounded Theory Approach Of Exploring The Development Of Patrol Officers In Urban Community Relations, Kyle Znamenak
ETD Archive
The culture of policing is rooted in a warrior ethos of preserving order against chaos and criminality in a hostile world. This ethos may be negatively influencing community relations. A guardian mindset encourages community engagement, fostering trust, and building allies within the community. The purpose of this grounded theory study is to understand in the context of strained relationships between Communities of Color and police, how officers develop their knowledge, skills, and experiences to become guardians in the communities they serve. This research considers: 1) what is the process of developing patrol officers that are competent in community relations within …
Validation Of The Tri-Choice Naming And Response Bias Measure, Chloe A. Huston
Validation Of The Tri-Choice Naming And Response Bias Measure, Chloe A. Huston
ETD Archive
n the field of neuropsychology, feigning symptoms, also known as malingering or response bias, is an important issue as a large number of assessment referrals are for individuals that may receive benefits if the assessment results suggest cognitive impairment. Therefore, it is crucial to have valid and reliable measures that detect the feigning of symptoms (Slick et al., 1999). Currently, the tests that are routinely used to detect response bias are vulnerable to coaching. The goal of this study was to validate a new response bias test aimed at being less susceptible to coaching than existing measures: The Tri-Choice Naming …
Lived Experiences Of Transgender College Students Using A Preferred Name Policy, Mitch R. Lieberth
Lived Experiences Of Transgender College Students Using A Preferred Name Policy, Mitch R. Lieberth
ETD Archive
As the visibility of transgender (trans) college students has increased, college policies have also increased for these students to help them persist. One such policy is a preferred name policy that allows students to change their names on non-legal campus records to their chosen name without a legal name change. This narrative research study explored the lived experiences of trans students at an urban public university who used a recently implemented preferred name policy. The results revealed that identity and persistence were shaped by both external factors such as campus support and navigation strategies and internal questions around sense of …
Understanding The Unmet Needs And Need-Driven Behaviors Of Individuals With Mild To Moderate Dementia, Morgan J. Minyo
Understanding The Unmet Needs And Need-Driven Behaviors Of Individuals With Mild To Moderate Dementia, Morgan J. Minyo
ETD Archive
Research on individuals with dementia (IWDs) has received increased attention in order to gain knowledge of the illness experience. Previous studies suggest many IWDs experience unmet needs as well as need-driven behaviors (NDBs) influencing IWDs outcomes of well-being. One possible interpretation of these constructs includes the potential connection between unmet needs and NDBs. In this way, NDBs are a response to some form of unmet need. The aim of this research is to assess three main objectives: (1) to increase the understanding of the illness experience by having individuals with mild to moderate dementia self-report unmet needs and NDBs, (2) …
Urban Principal Creative Leadership And Policy Compliance In The Era Of Accountability, Gretchen Wilson Liggens
Urban Principal Creative Leadership And Policy Compliance In The Era Of Accountability, Gretchen Wilson Liggens
ETD Archive
For decades, urban school reform has been a persistent issue. Research suggests that urban school reforms that connect equitably to broader community improvement efforts are more sustainable and that principals play a pivotal role in leading such efforts. Although the role of the school principal is a front-line leader charged with the execution of policy and legislation, the experience of principal leadership is an area of limited research particularly how the creative leadership of the school principal connects with school transformational improvement efforts. The purpose of this research was to explore and describe the experiences of urban principals, particularly their …
Understanding The Lived Experiences Of Sexual Assault Survivors: A Narrative Study Of Posttraumatic Growth, Michelle Lynn Barron-Wearsch
Understanding The Lived Experiences Of Sexual Assault Survivors: A Narrative Study Of Posttraumatic Growth, Michelle Lynn Barron-Wearsch
ETD Archive
Most people experience some type of traumatic event in their lives, such as physical or sexual assault, serious medical illnesses, accidents that cause injury, the death of a loved one, and military combat exposure. There is variability in how people respond to trauma. Survivors could benefit from learning more about trauma responses, including the process of healing. In recent times, society has been challenged to examine their perceptions of sexual assault and those who survive these experiences. Much research has been done on the negative impact oftrauma. Further research is necessary to gain a deeper understanding of both the positive …
We Rode Alone, Of Course A Collection Of Short Stories, Ryan T. Merriman
We Rode Alone, Of Course A Collection Of Short Stories, Ryan T. Merriman
ETD Archive
As a high school English teacher, I often ask my students to define abstract concepts. What is happiness? What is sadness? What is justice? What is injustice? My students often groan at such questions, as they do not know where to begin with such broad ideas. That is the point, however, as my hope is that they at least attempt to explore each broad idea and consider various facets. The funny thing is, some of the activities I often subject my students to are activities I would never have wished to do as a student. I personally have no idea …
Identification Of Motion Controllers In Human Standing And Walking, Huawei Wang
Identification Of Motion Controllers In Human Standing And Walking, Huawei Wang
ETD Archive
The method of trajectory optimization with direct collocation has the potential to extract generalized and realistic motion controllers from long duration movement data without requiring extensive measurement equipment. Knowing motion controllers not only can improve clinic assessments on locomotor disabilities, but also can inspire the control of powered exoskeletons and prostheses for better performance. Three aims were included in this dissertation. Aim 1 was to apply and validate the trajectory optimization for identification of the postural controllers in standing balance. The trajectory optimization approach was first validated on the simulated standing balance data and demonstrated that it can extract the …
A Novel Control Method For Grid Side Inverters Under Generalized Unbalanced Operating Conditions, Yaroslav Rutkavskiy
A Novel Control Method For Grid Side Inverters Under Generalized Unbalanced Operating Conditions, Yaroslav Rutkavskiy
ETD Archive
This thesis provides a summary on renewable energy sources integration into the grid, using an inverter, along with a comprehensive literature research on variety of available control methods. A new generalized method for grid side inverter control under unbalanced operating conditions is also proposed. The presented control method provides complete harmonic elimination in line currents and DC link voltage with adjustable power factor. The method is general, and can be used for all levels of imbalance in grid voltages and line impedances. The control algorithm proposed in this work has been implemented by using MATLAB Simulink and dSPACE RT1104 control …
A Journey Toward Sustainable Behavior: A Project To Stimulate Reduced Electricity Consumption, Albert A. Bragg Jr.
A Journey Toward Sustainable Behavior: A Project To Stimulate Reduced Electricity Consumption, Albert A. Bragg Jr.
ETD Archive
Housing organizations continuously face competition from other providers of low to moderate-income residential housing. That competition motivates those agencies to perpetually search for cost savings methods, which will enable them to continue providing supportive services to their residents. Additionally, the government has entrusted certain agencies with substantial funding that can inspire the organization to search for ways to demonstrate they are competent shepherds of those resources. Given that Alpha Homes’ residents do not pay their electric bills, the fundamental question guiding this research was: could a housing organization significantly reduce the average tenant electricity usage through a combination of resident-focused …
Borne The Battle; Creative Writing For Military Trauma And Personal Trauma, Damien L. Ware
Borne The Battle; Creative Writing For Military Trauma And Personal Trauma, Damien L. Ware
ETD Archive
Research shows that - creative and expressive can be used as a therapeutic tool to address military and personal trauma. As a Combat Veteran and Cleveland Literacy Advocate -I have used poetry as a means of personal healing and community development. As a Poet -I use my art as weapon for personal and community change. The following manuscript provides a critical introduction and poetry - which speaks to literary technique, inspiration and purpose.
Acute Effect Of Intermittent Pneumatic Compression (Ipc) On Inflammation, Circulation And Glucose Regualtion In, Madison V. Mariola
Acute Effect Of Intermittent Pneumatic Compression (Ipc) On Inflammation, Circulation And Glucose Regualtion In, Madison V. Mariola
ETD Archive
Purpose: The purpose of this study is to determine whether Intermittent Pneumatic Compression (IPC) acutely improves inflammation and glucose regulation in Type 2 diabetics. It was hypothesized that acute use of pneumatic compression will improve circulation and glucose levels and decrease inflammation in Type 2 diabetics. Methods: Subjects included 10 individuals clinically diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes. Plasma and serum were obtained intravenously to analyze insulin, Interleukin-6 (IL-6), C-reactive protein (CRP) and nitric oxide (NO). An HbA1C was obtained at the beginning of testing via a finger stick. Subjects came into the laboratory a total of 2 times (on a …
A Propensity Score Analysis Of The Academic Achievement Effect Of Increasing In A Blended Learning Environment The Student’S Time In The Brick And Mortar Facility, Craig E. Cotner
ETD Archive
A review of the literature documents two critical facts regarding the status of online education research. First, there exists minimal research on the instructional impact of online learning in K-12. Second, the focus of this limited K-12 research compares the growth outcomes of online learning to the growth outcomes of traditional face-to-face instruction. Therefore, the research found in this dissertation is unique as it is limited to examining in effect of time-in-school on high school students engaged in blended learning. The findings of this study are based on two years of data from a charter school that utilized a blended …
Basal Signaling Through Death Receptor 5 And Caspase 3 Activates P38 Kinase To Regulate Serum Response Factor - Mediated Myod Transcription, Jason A. Ross
ETD Archive
The formation of functional skeletal muscle is the consequence of both the differentiation and apoptosis of skeletal myoblasts. Ex vivo culture of skeletal myoblasts provides a tractable model for the study of these two coordinately regulated processes. We have previously reported that 23A2 myoblasts stably expressing a dominant negative Death Receptor 5 (A2:dnDR5 myoblasts) exhibit decreased basal mRNA and protein expression of the master muscle regulatory transcription factor MyoD. This decrease at the mRNA level is not a consequence of altered stability. Binding of the transcription factor SRF to a non-canonical CArG box within a serum response element (SRE) in …
Artificial Intelligence Neural Network: Compressive Strength Prediction Of Recycled Aggregate Concrete Samples, Abdelaziz Nijem
Artificial Intelligence Neural Network: Compressive Strength Prediction Of Recycled Aggregate Concrete Samples, Abdelaziz Nijem
ETD Archive
Old and demolished structures profusely exist in landfills because they are not being recycled frequently nor being employed correctly. This leads to an increase of construction and demolished wastes (C&D). These demolished structures and blocks can be broken down into smaller components to serve as aggregates (which are called recycled aggregates). Recycled aggregates are not being used regularly because they sometimes have detrimental influence on the compressive strength of concrete. Recycled concrete aggregate (RCA) reduces compressive strength of the concrete samples due to absorption issues related to the type, and age of the old concrete. Increase in water absorption levels …
Characterization Of The Immune Response To Anti-Mullerian Hormone, Justin M. Johnson
Characterization Of The Immune Response To Anti-Mullerian Hormone, Justin M. Johnson
ETD Archive
Anti-Mullerian hormone (AMH) has been known since the mid-twentieth century as the substance secreted by the testes of the male fetus that is responsible for directing the proper development of the male reproductive organs from the primordial structures that would otherwise become the uterus and fallopian tubes. However, despite its longknown significance in male development, only recently has its importance in the adult female become evident. AMH is now considered to be not only a clinical indicator of the finite ovarian egg supply, but a vital regulator thereof throughout the reproductive life of the female. Dysfunctions in AMH regulation may …
An Alternative Woman: Breaking From The Binary Options Of Sir Walter Scott’S Heroines And Their Successors In Historical Fiction, Rachel Hernan
An Alternative Woman: Breaking From The Binary Options Of Sir Walter Scott’S Heroines And Their Successors In Historical Fiction, Rachel Hernan
ETD Archive
Inaugurated in historical fiction by Sir Walter Scott, the dichotomy of the virgin/whore or wife/spinster has long been ingrained in culture and continues to be perpetuated throughout literature. In contrast, two contemporary female historical novelists, Suzannah Dunn and Tracy Chevalier created female protagonists who break from that binary and present an alternative version of womanhood in The Queen of Subtleties and Remarkable Creatures respectively. The heroines in these two novels demonstrate personal agency through successful professions, and with the support of older, female mentors, their characters offer a representation of women and femininity that is not dependent upon men or …
Achieving Practical Functional Electrical Stimulation-Driven Reaching Motions In An Individual With Tetraplegia, Derek Nathaniel Wolf
Achieving Practical Functional Electrical Stimulation-Driven Reaching Motions In An Individual With Tetraplegia, Derek Nathaniel Wolf
ETD Archive
Functional electrical stimulation (FES) is a promising technique for restoring the ability to complete reaching motions to individuals with tetraplegia due to a spinal cord injury (SCI). FES has proven to be a successful technique for controlling many functional tasks such as grasping, standing, and even limited walking. However, translating these successes to reaching motions has proven difficult due to the complexity of the arm and the goaldirected nature of reaching motions. The state-of-the-art systems either use robots to assist the FES-driven reaching motions or control the arm of healthy subjects to complete planar motions. These controllers do not directly …
Cost Optimization Of Concentric Loaded Rectangular Combined Footings Using Different Matlab Solvers, Muath Amro
Cost Optimization Of Concentric Loaded Rectangular Combined Footings Using Different Matlab Solvers, Muath Amro
ETD Archive
Conventional design methods for combined footings comprise a series of iterations. Generally, this involves an initial guess for the dimensions which are evaluated as guided by the existing design code. This is then followed by several iterations to reduce the cost without any detriment to structural safety. In most cases, the result from the final iteration does not reflect the minimum cost design. This necessitates optimization models capable of establishing efficient and accurate designs within a short period, especially under several design variables. For this purpose, an optimization model for concentric loaded rectangular combined footings was developed in this research. …
Although Of Course They End Up Constructing Their Selves Performative Gender Identity In The Pale King, Kevin Tasker
Although Of Course They End Up Constructing Their Selves Performative Gender Identity In The Pale King, Kevin Tasker
ETD Archive
The Pale King is a fragmentary work which many critics understand as primarily an examination of boredom. This is an interpretation put forth by Wallace’s editor, Michael Pietsch while attempting to unify the disparate components of the text as it remained after the author’s untimely death in 2008. As Pietsch argues in the 2011 edition’s introduction, “David set out to write a novel about some of the hardest subjects—sadness and boredom” (ix). Though boredom is indeed a theme throughout the book (and one which Wallace addressed while writing it (D.T. Max 281), The Pale King may also be a read …
Cultural Competence In Dysphagia Treatment, Marni Cary Altman
Cultural Competence In Dysphagia Treatment, Marni Cary Altman
ETD Archive
BACKGROUND: Dysphagia is a swallowing impairment which effects all aspects of a person’s life. Clinicians who are more culturally competent may be better prepared to treat the effects of dysphagia on the patient’s overall quality of life to provide better treatment outcomes. PURPOSE: This is a qualitative study aimed at discovering the ways in which clinicians take client culture into account when developing assessment and treatment protocols for dysphagic clients. METHODS: Participants were recruited through a directory on the American Speech-Language Hearing Association website. Participants were sent a survey with questions in the domains of knowledge, skills, comfort, attitudes and …
Computationalcost Reduction Of Robust Controllers Foractive Magnetic Bearing Systems, Alican Sahinkaya
Computationalcost Reduction Of Robust Controllers Foractive Magnetic Bearing Systems, Alican Sahinkaya
ETD Archive
This work developed strategies for reducing the computational complexity of implementing robust controllers for active magnetic bearing (AMB) systems and investigated the use of a novel add-on controller for gyroscopic effect compensation to improve achievable performance with robust controllers. AMB systems are multi-input multi-output (MIMO) systems with many interacting mechanisms that needs to fulfill conflicting performance criteria. That is why robust control techniques are a perfect application for AMB systems as they provide systematic methods to address both robustness and performance objectives. However, robust control techniques generally result in high order controllers that require high-end control hardware for implementation. Such …
Developing A Multifunctional Thermo-Responsive Viral Like Particle (Vlp) Platform With New Physicochemical Characteristics, Sepehr Dejdar
Developing A Multifunctional Thermo-Responsive Viral Like Particle (Vlp) Platform With New Physicochemical Characteristics, Sepehr Dejdar
ETD Archive
Smart materials are a class of material whose physical characteristics change significantly in a controllable fashion once exposed to an external stimulus such as stress, pH, light, temperature, etc. If the temperature is the external stimuli (control variable) the material is termed thermo-responsive. Out of numerous thermo-responsive materials, elastin-like polypeptide (ELP) is a well-known protein-based biopolymer. Protein cages are well-defined biological nanostructures which are highly symmetrical and monodisperse. This class of proteins are both chemically and genetically tunable, making them a suitable recipient of new properties. Protein re-engineering is the basis of developing a hybrid platform (e.g. polymer-protein) to deliver …
Determinants Of Holliday Junction Formation And Resolution During Budding Yeast Meiosis, Marina Bykova
Determinants Of Holliday Junction Formation And Resolution During Budding Yeast Meiosis, Marina Bykova
ETD Archive
In the process of meiosis, 4 haploid cells are produced from 1 diploid cell in two rounds of division. During prophase I of meiosis I, double strand breaks (DSBs) are created by the Spo11 protein, some of which are later repaired by homologous recombination into crossovers. During homologous recombination, structures called Holliday Junctions are formed, which later are resolved into crossovers to allow homologous chromosomes to separate. Ifthey are not resolved, the cell arrests and cannot progress further in meiosis. I have investigated three proteins known or suspected to be involved in Holliday Junction formation and resolution: the transcription factor …
Defect And Disorder In Dendritic Arrays Solidified On Earth And On The Space Station, Shirin Khan
Defect And Disorder In Dendritic Arrays Solidified On Earth And On The Space Station, Shirin Khan
ETD Archive
Under a NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration)-ESA (European Space Agency) collaborative research project, MICAST (Microstructure formation in the casting of technical alloys under diffusive and magnetically controlled convection conditions), three Al-7wt% Si samples (MICAST-6, MICAST-7 and MICAST2-12) were directionally solidified at growth speeds varying from 10 to 50 pm s-1 aboard the International Space Station to determine the effect ofmitigating convection on the primary dendrite array. The purpose of this research is to examine the ordering in the pattern formation during dendritic array growth of binary metallic alloys and explore if natural convection affects the extent of the disorder. …
Design And Development Of A Powered Pediatric Lower-Limb Orthosis, Curt A. Laubscher
Design And Development Of A Powered Pediatric Lower-Limb Orthosis, Curt A. Laubscher
ETD Archive
Gait impairments from disorders such as cerebral palsy are important to address early in life. A powered lower-limb orthosis can offer therapists a rehabilitation option using robot-assisted gait training. Although there are many devices already available for the adult population, there are few powered orthoses for the pediatric population. The aim of this dissertation is to embark on the first stages of development of a powered lower-limb orthosis for gait rehabilitation and assistance of children ages 6 to 11 years with walking impairments from cerebral palsy. This dissertation presents the design requirements of the orthosis, the design and fabrication of …
Development Of Artificial Neural Network Software And Models For Engineering Materials, Abdallah F. Bseiso
Development Of Artificial Neural Network Software And Models For Engineering Materials, Abdallah F. Bseiso
ETD Archive
Artificial Neural Network (ANN), which is inspired by biological neural networks in the human brain, is one important tool of machine learning that creates artificial intelligence through computational systems. The creation of this intelligence is contingent on learning from available data regarding a specific subject. Although machine learning, in general, has profuse applications in most scientific disciplines, yet few have been developed in civil engineering due to the required time consuming and demanding programming. In order to minimize this, intelligible ANN software has been developed in this research capable of training networks with any number of hidden layers and nodes …
Differences In Mental Health Outcomes Between Heterosexual And Sexual Minority Victims Of Emotional And Physical Intimate Partner Violence, Edward J. Gorski
Differences In Mental Health Outcomes Between Heterosexual And Sexual Minority Victims Of Emotional And Physical Intimate Partner Violence, Edward J. Gorski
ETD Archive
Intimate partner violence (IPV) has been shown to be associated with numerous negative mental health outcomes, including depression (Spencer et al., 2019), anxiety disorders (Fonseca-Machado et al., 2015), and substance use disorders (Cafferky et al., 2018). However, while studies on IPV have become more prevalent in recent years, a significant deficit exists in psychological literature in the study of IPV within sexual minority populations. Sexual minority individuals of both genders are noted to experience IPV at rates similar to those typically seen in heterosexual female populations (Finneran & Stephenson, 2014). In addition, these individuals may experience significant minority stress, specifically …
Dysphagia Symptoms In People With Diabetes: A Preliminary Report, Mckenzie G. Witzke
Dysphagia Symptoms In People With Diabetes: A Preliminary Report, Mckenzie G. Witzke
ETD Archive
BACKGROUND: Diabetes mellitus is a systemic disease affecting whole-body functioning. The underlying mechanisms and associated concomitant conditions suggest an increased risk for the occurrence of oropharyngeal dysphagia. PURPOSE: This is a qualitative study designed to assess perception of symptoms of oropharyngeal dysphagia in people with diabetes. METHODS: Participants were recruited by word-of-mouth and asked to complete a survey by answering questions on a Likert-type scale indicating the frequency with which they experience each symptom. Responses were weighted and analyzed according to frequency, providing a percentage of responses in each dysphagia category. Symptoms of dysphagia were examined in an overall manner, …
Determination Of Dynorphins And Tnf- A By Lc-Ms/Ms In Biological Samples: Applicable To Studying Inflammatory Mechanisms, Karthik Chandu
Determination Of Dynorphins And Tnf- A By Lc-Ms/Ms In Biological Samples: Applicable To Studying Inflammatory Mechanisms, Karthik Chandu
ETD Archive
Dynorphins are endogenous opioid peptides that have been implicated as initiators ofimmune and inflammatory response through upregulation ofinflammatory cytokine and chemokine production, as well having a role in glutamate-induced neuro-inflammation and neurotoxicity. Being extremely potent peptides, the physiologic concentrations of dynorphins are very low ranging from 0.16 pg/mL during the absence of a stimulus to 23.5 pg/mL when stimulated in disease condition. Previously published HPLC-mass spectrometry techniques have insufficient detection capabilities for quantification and detection ofdynorphins. As a result, immunoassay quantification has been the most utilized technique for analysis of dynorphins in physiologic samples. Although being sensitive, immunoassays have some …