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Georgia State University

Theses/Dissertations

2006

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Investigation Into The Mechanism(S) Which Permit The High-Rate, Degradation Of Pahs And Related Petroleum Hydrocarbons In Sequencing Batch Reactors By Attached Cells In A Controlled Mixed Bacterial Community., Emad Ibraheim Hussein Dec 2006

Investigation Into The Mechanism(S) Which Permit The High-Rate, Degradation Of Pahs And Related Petroleum Hydrocarbons In Sequencing Batch Reactors By Attached Cells In A Controlled Mixed Bacterial Community., Emad Ibraheim Hussein

Biology Dissertations

A stable mixed culture, deposited as ATCC 55644, previously shown to degrade petroleum hydrocarbons at relatively high concentrations was used as the source of inoculum. This culture was grown in Stanier’s minimal media, either in the presence of different concentrations of naphthalene, nitrobenzene and toluene (NNT) or naphthalene and toluene (NT) as the sole source of C and/or N. Results showed that the majority of the strains isolated from the mixed culture were able to grow in the presence of NNT or NT. A total of 20 different isolates were isolated from the mixed culture. Individual isolates were grown in …


A Framework For Dynamic Terrain With Application In Off-Road Ground Vehicle Simulations, Anthony Scott Aquilio Dec 2006

A Framework For Dynamic Terrain With Application In Off-Road Ground Vehicle Simulations, Anthony Scott Aquilio

Computer Science Dissertations

The dissertation develops a framework for the visualization of dynamic terrains for use in interactive real-time 3D systems. Terrain visualization techniques may be classified as either static or dynamic. Static terrain solutions simulate rigid surface types exclusively; whereas dynamic solutions can also represent non-rigid surfaces. Systems that employ a static terrain approach lack realism due to their rigid nature. Disregarding the accurate representation of terrain surface interaction is rationalized because of the inherent difficulties associated with providing runtime dynamism. Nonetheless, dynamic terrain systems are a more correct solution because they allow the terrain database to be modified at run-time for …


Cad Tools For Dna Micro-Array Design, Manufacture And Application, Nisar Hundewale Dec 2006

Cad Tools For Dna Micro-Array Design, Manufacture And Application, Nisar Hundewale

Computer Science Dissertations

Motivation: As the human genome project progresses and some microbial and eukaryotic genomes are recognized, numerous biotechnological processes have attracted increasing number of biologists, bioengineers and computer scientists recently. Biotechnological processes profoundly involve production and analysis of highthroughput experimental data. Numerous sequence libraries of DNA and protein structures of a large number of micro-organisms and a variety of other databases related to biology and chemistry are available. For example, microarray technology, a novel biotechnology, promises to monitor the whole genome at once, so that researchers can study the whole genome on the global level and have a better picture of …


Dna Photocleavage By Acridine And Phenazine-Based Chromophores, Earl John Fields Dec 2006

Dna Photocleavage By Acridine And Phenazine-Based Chromophores, Earl John Fields

Chemistry Theses

Photodynamic therapy (PDT) is a promising approach used in the treatment of cancer, age related macular degeneration, psoriasis, and other diseases. Our research is focused on the discovery of new photonucleases for use in PDT. This study evaluates the photo-induced DNA cleaving abilities of a series of acridine and phenazine-based chromophores. The extended, aromatic ring systems of these compounds are expected to intercalate between adjoining base pairs in the DNA double-helix. Once irradiated, strand breakage, or nicking of plasmid DNA is achieved at micromolar concentrations of compound (pH 7.0 and 22 °C). Our scavenger experiments show that this process occurs …


64 X 64 Bit Multiplier Using Pass Logic, Shibi Thankachan Dec 2006

64 X 64 Bit Multiplier Using Pass Logic, Shibi Thankachan

Computer Science Theses

ABSTRACT Due to the rapid progress in the field of VLSI, improvements in speed, power and area are quite evident. Research and development in this field are motivated by growing markets of portable mobile devices such as personal multimedia players, cellular phones, digital camcorders and digital cameras. Among the recently popular logic families, pass transistor logic is promising for low power applications as compared to conventional static CMOS because of lower transistor count. This thesis proposes four novel designs for Booth encoder and selector logic using pass logic principles. These new designs are implemented and used to build a 64 …


Paleoecological Reconstructions Of The South African Plio-Pleistocene Based On Low-Magnification Dental Microwear Of Fossil Primates., Brian D. Carter Dec 2006

Paleoecological Reconstructions Of The South African Plio-Pleistocene Based On Low-Magnification Dental Microwear Of Fossil Primates., Brian D. Carter

Anthropology Theses

Cercopithecines are common in hominid producing deposits and are a useful proxy for determining the ecological context of the early hominids. For this study, dental microwear is examined through low-magnification stereomicroscopy and used to reconstruct the diets of sampled primates. Those from the earliest sites, predominantly Parapapio, are primarily frugivorous while the incidence of gramnivory increases in the later Dinopithecus, Gorgopithecus, and Papio individuals denoting a general cooling and drying trend over the South African Plio-Pleistocene with a distinct pulse between 1.9-1.8 million years ago (mya). Australopithecus is reconstructed as a primary gramnivore which indicates that hominids adapted early in …


Understanding Access To Essential Pharmaceuticals During A Public Health Crisis, Andrew Jessen Dec 2006

Understanding Access To Essential Pharmaceuticals During A Public Health Crisis, Andrew Jessen

Political Science Theses

Despite the benefits of antiretroviral therapy in treating HIV/AIDS, government responses have varied substantially, from provisions guaranteeing nearly universal access to insufficient provisions providing almost no access. This research seeks to specifically examine primary explanations, such as economic capacity, and emerging explanations, such as the role of electoral accountability and the presence of stigma, and the coordination between the epistemic community and political leadership as potential causes for the variance in the government provision. By controlling for state economic capacity, this research furthers the importance of examining other explanations for state response in light of a public health crisis. While …


A Characterization Of Wireless Network Interface Card Active Scanning Algorithms, Vaibhav Gupta Dec 2006

A Characterization Of Wireless Network Interface Card Active Scanning Algorithms, Vaibhav Gupta

Computer Science Theses

In this thesis, we characterize the proprietary active scanning algorithm of several wireless network interface cards. Our experiments are the first of its kind to observe the complete scanning process as the wireless network interface cards probe all the channels in the 2.4GHz spectrum. We discuss the: 1) correlation of channel popularity during active scanning and access point channel deployment popularity; 2) number of probe request frames statistics on each channel; 3) channel probe order; and 4) dwell time. The knowledge gained from characterizing wireless network interface cards is important for the following reasons: 1) it helps one understand how …


An Enhanced Algorithm To Find Dominating Set Nodes In Ad Hoc Wireless Networks, Naresh Nanuvala Dec 2006

An Enhanced Algorithm To Find Dominating Set Nodes In Ad Hoc Wireless Networks, Naresh Nanuvala

Computer Science Theses

A wireless ad hoc network is a collection of wireless mobile nodes forming a temporary network without the aid of any established infrastructure or centralized administration. A connection is achieved between two nodes through a single hop transmission if they are directly connected or multi-hop transmission if they are not. The wireless networks face challenges to form an optimal routing protocol. Some approaches are based on a dominating set, which has all the nodes either in the set or within its neighborhood. The proposed algorithm is an enhancement of the distributed algorithm proposed by Wu and Li. The simulation results …


The Role Of Ecological Interactions In Polymicrobial Biofilms And Their Contribution To Multiple Antibiotic Resistance, Heather Adele O'Connell Dec 2006

The Role Of Ecological Interactions In Polymicrobial Biofilms And Their Contribution To Multiple Antibiotic Resistance, Heather Adele O'Connell

Biology Dissertations

The primary objectives of this research were to demonstrate that: 1.) antibiotic resistant bacteria can promote the survival of antibiotic sensitive organisms when grown simultaneously as biofilms in antibiotics, 2.) community-level multiple antibiotic resistance of polymicrobial consortia can lead to biofilm formation despite the presence of multiple antibiotics, and 3.) biofilms may benefit plasmid retention and heterologous protein production in the absence of selective pressure. Quantitative analyses of confocal data showed that ampicillin resistant organisms supported populations of ampicillin sensitive organisms in steady state ampicillin concentrations 13 times greater than that which would inhibit sensitive cells inoculated alone. The rate …


Christian Missions And Islam: The Reformed Church In America And The Origins Of The Moslem World, Christopher Cleveland Montrose Dec 2006

Christian Missions And Islam: The Reformed Church In America And The Origins Of The Moslem World, Christopher Cleveland Montrose

History Theses

This thesis examines the historical background of missionary attitudes toward Islam within the framework of the mission emphasis of the Reformed Church in America between the 1880s and 1911. It argues that the historical experience of the Dutch Reformed Church in the Netherlands produced a sense of pride and destiny that was transplanted by Dutch emigration to North America and maintained in the relationships of the Reformed Church in America with other nationalities and missions. That sense of pride ad destiny prepared the church to stand on its convictions in the face of opposition, which it drew upon itself when …


A Domain Based Approach To Crawl The Hidden Web, Milan Pandya Dec 2006

A Domain Based Approach To Crawl The Hidden Web, Milan Pandya

Computer Science Theses

There is a lot of research work being performed on indexing the Web. More and more sophisticated Web crawlers are been designed to search and index the Web faster. But all these traditional crawlers crawl only the part of Web we call “Surface Web”. They are unable to crawl the hidden portion of the Web. These traditional crawlers retrieve contents only from surface Web pages which are just a set of Web pages linked by some hyperlinks and ignoring the hidden information. Hence, they ignore tremendous amount of information hidden behind these search forms in Web pages. Most of the …


Dct Implementation On Gpu, Serpil Tokdemir Dec 2006

Dct Implementation On Gpu, Serpil Tokdemir

Computer Science Theses

There has been a great progress in the field of graphics processors. Since, there is no rise in the speed of the normal CPU processors; Designers are coming up with multi-core, parallel processors. Because of their popularity in parallel processing, GPUs are becoming more and more attractive for many applications. With the increasing demand in utilizing GPUs, there is a great need to develop operating systems that handle the GPU to full capacity. GPUs offer a very efficient environment for many image processing applications. This thesis explores the processing power of GPUs for digital image compression using Discrete cosine transform.


Fuzzy-Granular Based Data Mining For Effective Decision Support In Biomedical Applications, Yuanchen He Dec 2006

Fuzzy-Granular Based Data Mining For Effective Decision Support In Biomedical Applications, Yuanchen He

Computer Science Dissertations

Due to complexity of biomedical problems, adaptive and intelligent knowledge discovery and data mining systems are highly needed to help humans to understand the inherent mechanism of diseases. For biomedical classification problems, typically it is impossible to build a perfect classifier with 100% prediction accuracy. Hence a more realistic target is to build an effective Decision Support System (DSS). In this dissertation, a novel adaptive Fuzzy Association Rules (FARs) mining algorithm, named FARM-DS, is proposed to build such a DSS for binary classification problems in the biomedical domain. Empirical studies show that FARM-DS is competitive to state-of-the-art classifiers in terms …


The Application Of Weak-Anion Exchange Chromatography For The Analysis Of Organic Zwitterions Using Lc/Ms/Ms, Michael Jason Bishop Dec 2006

The Application Of Weak-Anion Exchange Chromatography For The Analysis Of Organic Zwitterions Using Lc/Ms/Ms, Michael Jason Bishop

Chemistry Theses

A rapid and accurate quantitative method was developed and validated for the analysis of four urinary organic acids with nitrogen containing functional groups, formiminoglutamic acid (FIGLU), pyroglutamic acid (PYRGLU), 5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid (5-HIAA), and 2-methylhippuric acid (2-METHIP) by liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (LC/MS/MS). The chromatography was developed using a weak anion-exchange amino column that provided mixed-mode retention of the analytes. The elution gradient relied on changes in mobile phase pH over a concave gradient, without the use of counter-ions or concentrated salt buffers. A simple sample preparation was used, only requiring the dilution of urine prior to instrumental analysis. The …


Senior Multipurpose Facilities And Quality Of Life Among African American Older Adults: A Case Study, Davette A. Taylor-Harris Dec 2006

Senior Multipurpose Facilities And Quality Of Life Among African American Older Adults: A Case Study, Davette A. Taylor-Harris

Gerontology Theses

Little is known about the impact of senior multipurpose facilities on the quality of life of African American elders. This thesis examined the context of African American elders’ participation in these facilities. Qualitative methods were used. Fifteen in-depth participant interviews, one facility program coordinator interview and eighteen weeks of participant observation were completed. The principles of grounded-theory method were used during data analysis. Findings reveal that racial experiences played an important role in participants’ sense of community. Female and male participants engaged in different types of activities. While some participants reported physical improvements, all participants recounted social and emotional benefits …


Maintaining Online Friendship: Cross-Cultural Analyses Of Links Among Relational Maintenance Strategies, Relational Factors, And Channel-Related Factors, Jiali Ye Dec 2006

Maintaining Online Friendship: Cross-Cultural Analyses Of Links Among Relational Maintenance Strategies, Relational Factors, And Channel-Related Factors, Jiali Ye

Communication Dissertations

Computer-mediated communication (CMC), such as electronic mail and newsgroups, is quickly becoming a pervasive interpersonal communication means. The general research purpose of the present study is to investigate the communicative strategies individuals use to maintain exclusively Internet-based friendships and the extent to which cultural, relational and channel-related factors may affect the use of these strategies. A total of 136 Chinese Internet users and 134 American Internet users completed an online survey that measured maintenance strategies that they used for sustaining a friendship that they had developed on the Internet, their online friendship relational experience (relational and partner certainty and relational …


Changepoint Analysis Of Hiv Marker Responses, Joy Michelle Rogers Nov 2006

Changepoint Analysis Of Hiv Marker Responses, Joy Michelle Rogers

Mathematics Theses

We will propose a random changepoint model for the analysis of longitudinal CD4 and CD8 T-cell counts, as well as viral RNA loads, for HIV infected subjects following highly active antiretroviral treatment. The data was taken from two studies, one of the Aids Clinical Group Trial 398 and one performed by the Terry Beirn Community Programs for Clinical Research on AIDS. Models were created with the changepoint following both exponential and truncated normal distributions. The estimation of the changepoints was performed in a Bayesian analysis, with implementation in the WinBUGS software using Markov Chain Monte Carlo methods. For model selection, …


Do Mutual Fund Managers Have Superior Skills? An Analysis Of The Portfolio Deviations From A Benchmark, Jean-Francois Guimond Nov 2006

Do Mutual Fund Managers Have Superior Skills? An Analysis Of The Portfolio Deviations From A Benchmark, Jean-Francois Guimond

Finance Dissertations

By construction, actively managed portfolios must differ from passively managed ones. Consequently, the manager’s problem can be viewed as selecting how to deviate from a passive portfolio composition. The purpose of this study is to see if we can infer the presence of superior skills through the analysis of the portfolio deviations from a benchmark. Based on the Black-Litterman approach, we hypothesize that positive signals should lead to an increase in weight, from which should follow that the largest deviations from a benchmark weight reveal the presence of superior skills. More precisely, this study looks at the subsequent performance of …


Effect Of A Wildlife Conservation Camp Experience In China On Student Knowledge Of Animals, Care, Propensity For Environmental Stewardship, And Compassionate Behavior Toward Animals, Sarah Marie Bexell Oct 2006

Effect Of A Wildlife Conservation Camp Experience In China On Student Knowledge Of Animals, Care, Propensity For Environmental Stewardship, And Compassionate Behavior Toward Animals, Sarah Marie Bexell

Early Childhood and Elementary Education Dissertations

ABSTRACT EFFECT OF A WILDLIFE CONSERVATION CAMP EXPERIENCE IN CHINA ON STUDENT KNOWLEDGE OF ANIMALS, CARE, PROPENSITY FOR ENVIRONMENTAL STEWARDSHIP, AND COMPASSIONATE BEHAVIOR TOWARD ANIMALS by Sarah M. Bexell The goal of conservation education is positive behavior change toward animals and the environment. This study was conducted to determine whether participation in a wildlife conservation education camp was effective in positively changing 8-12 year old students’: (a) knowledge of animals, (b) care about animals, (c) propensity for environmental and wildlife stewardship, and (d) compassionate behavior toward animals. During the summer of 2005, 2 five-day camps were conducted at 2 zoological …


Using Life-Style And Coping Resources To Differentiate Between Gay Men With And Without Alcohol Problems: An Adlerian Study, Joffrey Scott Suprina Oct 2006

Using Life-Style And Coping Resources To Differentiate Between Gay Men With And Without Alcohol Problems: An Adlerian Study, Joffrey Scott Suprina

Counseling and Psychological Services Dissertations

Addictions are prevalent in the United States with gay men’s drinking habits considered as problematic as their heterosexual counterparts (Bux, 1996). Although some research has compared gay men and heterosexual men’s drinking behaviors, further research is needed to identify the life-style and coping resource differences between gay men with and without drinking problems. This study explores gay men and problem drinking from an Individual Psychology perspective by comparing the life-style themes as measured by the Basic Adlerian Scales for Interpersonal Success – Adult Form (BASIS-A: Wheeler, Kern, & Curlette, 1993) and coping resources as measured by the Coping Resources Inventory …


Resilience Strategies Of South Asian Women Who Have Survived Child Sexual Abuse, Anneliese Amanda Singh Oct 2006

Resilience Strategies Of South Asian Women Who Have Survived Child Sexual Abuse, Anneliese Amanda Singh

Counseling and Psychological Services Dissertations

The purpose of this qualitative study was to describe the resilience strategies of 13 South Asian female survivors of child sexual abuse. Two research questions guided this study: (a) How does a small sample of South Asian adult women in the United States (U.S.) describe their experiences of child sexual abuse? and (b) What resilience strategies do these South Asian female survivors of child sexual abuse report using to cope with child sexual abuse? The phenomenological research design was grounded in feminist theory to capture the lived experiences of resilience related to child sexual abuse (Patton, 1990). Data were collected …


Case Studies Of The Literacy Interactions Of Preschool Deaf Children With Their Parents In The Home, Laura West Wise Sep 2006

Case Studies Of The Literacy Interactions Of Preschool Deaf Children With Their Parents In The Home, Laura West Wise

Middle-Secondary Education and Instructional Technology Dissertations

In the field of deaf education, a long-standing and still unanswered question is why are the reading levels and academic achievement levels of deaf and hard of hearing children inferior to their hearing peers. Teachers and parents continue to look for reasons to explain the gap and strategies they can use to narrow this gap between the reading achievement of children who are deaf and children who hear. For all children, literacy learning begins at birth. During the early years, children listen to and learn from the language their parents speak to them. The children are affected by the family …


Integration Of Instructional Technology By University Lecturers In Secondary School Teacher Education Programs In Zimbabwe: An Exploratory Study, Rodwell Chitiyo Sep 2006

Integration Of Instructional Technology By University Lecturers In Secondary School Teacher Education Programs In Zimbabwe: An Exploratory Study, Rodwell Chitiyo

Middle-Secondary Education and Instructional Technology Dissertations

In the context of continuous innovations in information and communication technology (ICT) and its impact on higher education, this descriptive study explores the state of instructional technology (IT) integration by university lecturers in pre-service secondary school teacher education programs in Zimbabwe. Specifically, the study examines how the lecturers conceptualize IT integration, how they integrate IT into their instruction, the support given by their institutions, and the constraints they face. The qualitative methodology used is basic or generic in nature (Merriam, 1998). Twenty-one lecturers in the colleges of education at 3 universities participated. The 3 data collection methods used are questionnaires, …


Adult Reflections On A High School Choral Music Program: Perceptions Of Meaning And Lifelong Influence, Melissa Tyson Arasi Sep 2006

Adult Reflections On A High School Choral Music Program: Perceptions Of Meaning And Lifelong Influence, Melissa Tyson Arasi

Middle-Secondary Education and Instructional Technology Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to investigate the lifelong meaning and influence of participation in a high school choral music program. This study described and analyzed the reflections of adults who participated in one high school choral program selected by the researcher as meeting high standards of practice in choral music. The eight participants, who were involved in the choral program for at least three years and pursued careers in fields other than music, were selected via criterion sampling and interviewed regarding their experiences in chorus and how those experiences may have influenced their lives. Semi-structured interviews were the …


"I Am An Island To Myself": How One Veteran English Teacher's Beliefs, Experiences, And Philosophy Translate Into Classroom Practice, Tara Jenkins Bruhn Sep 2006

"I Am An Island To Myself": How One Veteran English Teacher's Beliefs, Experiences, And Philosophy Translate Into Classroom Practice, Tara Jenkins Bruhn

Middle-Secondary Education and Instructional Technology Dissertations

The purpose of this qualitative study was to investigate the beliefs, philosophy, and experience of a veteran English teacher and how each of these constructs informed her classroom practice. This research, conducted in a metropolitan high school in the South, provides insight into the way a veteran teacher believes, practices in her classroom, and relates to her greater teaching milieu. The study is theoretically framed in Greene's (1971) notion of "doing philosophy" in which a teacher makes meaning from her reflected, lived-through experience, and Applebee's (1996) notion of curriculum as conversation for the teaching of language arts discourse. Research indicates …


Multiple Perspectives On Georgia's Early Intervention Program: A Qualitative Inquiry, Christy Thorne Jaffe Sep 2006

Multiple Perspectives On Georgia's Early Intervention Program: A Qualitative Inquiry, Christy Thorne Jaffe

Counseling and Psychological Services Dissertations

This qualitative study used naturalistic methods to compare a local implementation of a state funded early intervention program (EIP) with its stated goals. A large suburban elementary school began serving academically at-risk students through small, self-contained classrooms after funding for more inclusive practices was cut from the state budget. This study took place within two fifth grade classes, situated within a non-Title I elementary school. Participants included EIP teachers, system administrators and mother/child dyads. Each participant was interviewed twice. Information from a pilot study, classroom observations, program guidelines and archival records were used to provide additional depth to interview data …


African Descent Women's Conceptualization Of Ethnic/Racial And Gender Identities, Wendi Saree Williams Sep 2006

African Descent Women's Conceptualization Of Ethnic/Racial And Gender Identities, Wendi Saree Williams

Counseling and Psychological Services Dissertations

This qualitative study explored racial/ethnic and gender identities of African descent women. Specifically, 13 African descent women were interviewed about influences on their racial/ethnic and gender identities, the process by such identities developed in order to assess the applicability of current theories, and whether they perceive an interaction between their racial/ethnic and gender identities. Phase One, an initial focus group informed Phase Two of the study; individual interviews. Phase Three, a member-checking focus group, validated themes generated from data analysis. All focus groups and interview sessions followed a semi-structured format. Family, educational experiences, physical features, oppressive experiences, political movements, and …


The Use Of Item Response Theory To Assess Adults' Postdiction Accuracy, Andrea Mueller Cummings Sep 2006

The Use Of Item Response Theory To Assess Adults' Postdiction Accuracy, Andrea Mueller Cummings

Communication Sciences and Disorders Dissertations

Researchers interested in metacognition of text comprehension (metacomprehension) have investigated both a knowledge and a monitoring component. Knowledge of comprehension consists of one’s awareness of person, strategy, and task variables and is investigated primarily through interviews and questionnaires. Monitoring of comprehension consists of two equally important abilities: evaluation and regulation. Evaluation involves adults’ ability to assess their understanding during reading, whereas regulation involves their ability to use compensatory strategies to resolve comprehension failures. Monitoring of comprehension is assessed through a variety of paradigms, such as on-line performance measures, error detection, and calibration. Researchers interested in adults’ evaluation ability have frequently …


Exploring The Efficacy Of Pre-Equating A Large Scale Criterion-Referenced Assessment With Respect To Measurement Equivalence, Christopher Stephen Domaleski Sep 2006

Exploring The Efficacy Of Pre-Equating A Large Scale Criterion-Referenced Assessment With Respect To Measurement Equivalence, Christopher Stephen Domaleski

Educational Policy Studies Dissertations

This investigation examined the practice of relying on field test item calibrations in advance of the operational administration of a large scale assessment for purposes of equating and scaling. Often termed “pre-equating,” the effectiveness of this method is explored for a statewide, high-stakes assessment in grades three, five, and seven for the content areas of language arts, mathematics, and social studies. Pre-equated scaling was based on item calibrations using the Rasch model from an off-grade field test event in which students tested were one grade higher than the target population. These calibrations were compared to those obtained from post-equating, which …