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The Causes And Consequences Of Variation In Agonistic Behavior In The Bluebanded Goby (Lythrypnus Dalli), Tessa Solomon-Lane

Neuroscience Institute Dissertations

Social species are faced with the challenge of navigating a lifetime of dynamic social contexts. Social behavior is a critical target for natural selection because expressing behaviors appropriate for a given social context has important fitness consequences. Context-specific behavior is promoted by proximate regulators that are reciprocally influenced by behavioral expression and the social environment, such as hormones and social experience. This dissertation utilizes an integrative approach to investigate the causes and consequences of variation in agonistic behavior in the bluebanded goby (Lythrypnus dalli) across a range of relevant social contexts. This highly social, sex changing fish forms …

Employee Needs And Job-Related Opportunities: From The Person-Environment Fit Framework, Wongun Goo

Managerial Sciences Dissertations

The work environment presents employees with many opportunities for meaningful experiences associated with personal and professional growth. When these opportunities match what employees need, they have favorable attitudes toward the job and the organization. My dissertation addresses questions related to work design, employees’ experiences of leadership and leaders’ attitudes towards their own leadership behaviors through the lens of Person-Environment (P-E) Fit theory.

In the first part of my dissertation, I revisited the Job Characteristics Model (JCM) which predicted positive attitudes and behavior when jobs were designed to increase five key job characteristics (variety; autonomy; feedback, identity, and significance). I re-conceptualized …

Effects Of Theory Of Mind Training On The False Belief Understanding Of Deaf And Hard Of Hearing Students In Prekindergarten And Kindergarten, Stacey L. Tucci

Communication Sciences and Disorders Dissertations

Data from a growing number of research studies indicate that children with hearing loss are delayed in Theory of Mind (ToM) development when compared to their typically developing, hearing peers. While other researchers have studied the developmental trajectories of ToM in school-age students who are deaf and hard of hearing (DHH), a limited number have addressed the need for interventions for this population. The present study extends the current research on ToM interventions to the PreKindergarten and Kindergarten levels. This study used a single-case multiple-baseline multiple-probe across skills design with replications across classrooms to examine the effects of a ToM …

Critical Thinking In Public Health: An Exploration Of Skills Used By Public Health Practitioners And Taught By Instructors, Martha Elizabeth Alexander

Communication Sciences and Disorders Dissertations

Critical thinking is crucial in public health due to the increasingly complex challenges faced by this field, including disease prevention, illness management, economic forces, and changes in the health system. Although there is a lack of consensus about how practitioners and educators view critical thinking, such skills are essential to the functions of applying theories and scientific research to public health interventions (Rabinowitz, 2012). The purpose of this research was to examine the relationship between critical thinking skills used by public health practitioners and critical thinking skills taught to graduate students in schools/programs of public health. Through interviews with public …

Professional Learning Community As An Impetus For My Development Into A Teacher Leader: An Autoethnographic Study, Rabia Shahbaz

Middle-Secondary Education and Instructional Technology Dissertations

Recently, the notion of educational leadership has expanded from school administrators to instructional coaches, department chairs, and teacher leaders. This expansion is the result of the 1980s education reform initiatives with which the concept of teacher professional development has evolved into building professional learning communities (PLCs). The PLCs play multiple roles by providing: (a) sources for ongoing instructional support; (b) forums for collaboration and reflection; and (c) platforms for developing leadership skills among teachers. Many studies emphasize the need for teacher leaders (TLs) to lead these communities. However, little is known about the reciprocal role of these communities in the …

A Case Study Of Student Instructor Connectedness In An Asynchronous Modular Online Environment, Orazio Antonio D'Alba

Middle-Secondary Education and Instructional Technology Dissertations

The use of the Web as an instructional medium has gone hand in hand with the ever-increasing growth of the computer and the proliferation of the Internet and the World Wide Web. Early studies provided a foundation on building web-based learning environments and focusing on presenting the online content. However, as online or e-learning continues to grow, it has brought pivotal changes to the educational landscape (Gatlin). Online learning has now been adopted by many throughout the world, precipitating a shift in research from “how to develop courses online” to “what attributes best contribute to the success of an online …

Investigating The Effects Of Delivering Content Based On A Waves Learning Progression On Learning Outcomes In An Online High School Physics Unit, Timothy Maley

Middle-Secondary Education and Instructional Technology Dissertations

Effective instruction starts with an understanding of the learner’s pre-existing knowledge (Bransford, Brown, & Cocking, 2000). That being said, online instruction often involves inflexible content presented the same way to each student regardless of their current level of understanding (van Rosmalen, Vogten, van Es, Passier, & Poelmans, 2006).The shortcomings of static instruction are intensified in online high school learning because online learning is often used for remediation and credit recovery for students that have not been successful in their traditional class (Queen & Lewis, 2011). Learning progressions, which are research-based, testable models of how learners develop their understanding of a …

Acknowledging The Elephant In The Room: A Multiple-Case Study Exploring The Experiences Of Social Studies Teacher-Coaches, Caroline J. Conner

Middle-Secondary Education and Instructional Technology Dissertations

Social studies teachers are frequently athletic coaches, yet little educational research attends to the experiences of social studies teacher-coaches (SSTCs). Research in role conflict theory, however, suggests that TCs, those who occupy dual professional roles of academic teacher and athletic coach simultaneously, often face increased levels of stress, which can lead to role strain, burnout and/or role retreatism. Through a multiple-case study of three football SSTCs in a large, metropolitan county in the Southeastern United States, the researcher explored participants’ experiences over the course of the 2013-2014 school year. Conducting a series of interviews with each participant, the researcher investigated …

Aging Out Of Foster Care: The Experiences Of Former Foster Youth Who Successfully Navigated This Transition, Margot A. Hedenstrom Phd, Rn

Nursing Dissertations (PhD)

ABSTRACT

AGING OUT OF FOSTER CARE: THE EXPERIENCES OF FORMER FOSTER

YOUTH WHO SUCCESSFULLY NAVIGATED THIS TRANSITION

by

MARGOT HEDENSTROM

Foster youth face high risks and poor outcomes after aging out of care resulting in great economic and human costs to society. The purpose of the study was to describe life experiences of children aging out of the foster care system from the perspectives of adults who have successfully navigated this transition. Their life experiences during this period provided meaningful information for this study which helped to identify themes.

Phenomenology was used to describe the experiences of nine young adults …

Factors Which Influence Adult African Americans' Asthma Self-Management, James Holland

Nursing Dissertations (PhD)

There are approximately 22.2 million Americans’ who are living with asthma and of those 18.4 million are adults. African Americans’ are more likely to be diagnosed with asthma compared to Caucasians, and experience more asthma attacks. In this study, the Social Cognitive Theory was used to examine the relationships among personal characteristics, environmental factors, asthma self-efficacy, self-management behaviors, and quality of life (QOL) in African American adults with asthma.

A correlational design was used. Data were collected from a non-random sample of adult African Americans’ with asthma (N = 39) using the following self-report questionnaires: the Knowledge, Attitude, and Self-Efficacy …

Ascribing Meaning To Kidney Disease: A Qualitative Study Of African Americans With A First Degree Relative On Hemodialysis, Loretta Brown

Nursing Dissertations (PhD)

Chronic kidney disease (CKD) poses a serious health threat to African Americans (AA). CKD is responsible for the high incidence of end stage renal disease requiring hemodialysis among AA. CKD is a preventable condition associated with modifiable and non-modifiable risk factors. Having a family history of CKD is an independent non-modifiable risk factor for CKD yet many AA do not perceive CKD as a major health concern. Previous studies on CKD awareness and knowledge have not included the voices of individuals with a relative affected by CKD. The purpose of this interpretive phenomenological study was to explore the meaning of …

Crystallographic Analysis And Molecular Modeling Studies Of Hiv-1 Protease And Drug Resistant Mutants, Chen-Hsiang Shen

Biology Dissertations

HIV-1 protease (PR) is an effective target protein for drugs in anti-retroviral therapy (ART). Using PR inhibitors (PIs) in clinical therapy successfully reduces mortality of HIV infected patients. However, drug resistant variants are selected in AIDS patients because of the fast evolution of the viral genome. Structural, kinetic and MD simulations of PR variants with or without substrate or PIs were used to better understand the molecular basis of drug resistance. Information obtained from these extensive studies will benefit the design of more effective inhibitor in ART.

Amprenavir (APV) inhibition of PR_WT, and single mutants of PR_{V32I …}

Long-Term Outcomes Of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy For Social Phobia, Shannan M. Edwards

Psychology Dissertations

Social phobia (SP) is a highly prevalent and chronic condition associated with a number of negative outcomes, including significant impairments in social, occupational, and educational functioning (Stein & Kean, 2000). Fortunately, there is substantial evidence to support the efficacy of cognitive behavioral and pharmacological interventions for SP immediately following treatment (McCabe & Antony, 2008). Less is known, however, about the extent to which treatment gains are maintained over the long-term. The current study examined long-term outcomes of two cognitive behavioral treatments for SP, Exposure Group Therapy (EGT) and Virtual Reality Exposure Therapy (VRE). Guided by theories of state dependent and …

Idiom Comprehension Skills Of Adult Struggling Readers, Stephanie Ryan Hall

Communication Sciences and Disorders Dissertations

Idioms such as break a leg and piece of cake make up a significant portion of spoken and written discourse. Like other linguistic expressions stemming from conceptual metaphor (e.g., metaphors, similes), idioms serve to provide understanding of one concept in relation to a different concept (e.g., love is a journey). The ability to comprehend figurative expressions has an extended developmental period that begins as young as 5 years and continues into adulthood. The Language Experience Hypothesis attributes figurative language competence to meaningful exposure to figurative expressions. The Global Elaboration Hypothesis, however, proposes that figurative language comprehension depends upon skills …

Brazilian And Nigerian International Students’ Conceptions Of Learning, Carol Ashong

Communication Sciences and Disorders Dissertations

The growth, benefits, and challenges of international students in higher education provide compelling reasons to closely examine the social, cultural, and introspective aspects of learning for this population. One area of research that provides insight into the learning experiences of international students is investigations on conceptions of learning. Previous research has found that conceptions of learning guide primary beliefs, experiences, interpretations, and outcomes of learning. Conceptions of learning also provide insight into the ways students choose to approach learning and influence how they interact with courses, classroom environment, teachers, and peers (Marshall et al., 1999). However, research on conceptions of …

Discrepancy Principle And Stable Parameter Estimation In Avian Influenza, Linda Decamp

Mathematics Theses

In the case of a linear ill-posed problem with noisy data, a version of an a posteriori parameter selection discrepancy principle (DP) is justified for an arbitrary regularization strategy under very general assumptions on the operator and the stabilizer. Its efficiency is demonstrated for a practically important inverse problem in avian influenza. We refer to our result as an abstract discrepancy principle (ADP), which shows that applicability of the DP largely depends on the level of noise in the data rather than the method used for the construction of a specific regularization procedure.

Clinical Outcomes Involving The Use Of Extracorporeal Magnetic Innervation In The Treatment Of Urinary Incontinence, Kathy Davis

Nursing Dissertations (PhD)

ABSTRACT

CLINICAL OUTCOMES INVOLVING THE USE OF EXTRACORPOREAL MAGNETIC INNERVATION IN THE TREATMENT OF URINARY INCONTINENCE

by

KATHY E. DAVIS

Urinary incontinence affects approximately 25 million Americans, significantly diminishing their function and quality of life. It is estimated that 50% of all women will experience some form of urinary incontinence in their lifetime. Although women are disproportionately affected by urinary incontinence, 69% of men who have undergone prostatectomy also report post-surgical incontinence.

Extracorporeal Magnetic Innervation (ExMI) is a novel conservative approach to the treatment of urinary incontinence. As a patient sits fully clothed on a chair, an electromagnet delivers a …

Inner-Shell Photoionization Of Free And Confined Mg, Prabha Padukka

Physics and Astronomy Dissertations

Relativistic Breit-Pauli R-Matrix calculations of the photoionization cross sections in the energy region of the 2p inner-shell of free Mg and Mg confined in a C₆₀ molecule have been performed. For the free case, Mg⁺ orbitals are generated using Hartree-Fock (HF) and multiconfiguration HF (MCHF) programs. Multiconfiguration wavefunctions of confined Mg for the final states of ion core (target states) were obtained using modified MCHF and HF codes. The C₆₀ confinement potential is modeled as an attractive spherical potential of inner radius 5.8 a.u, thickness of 1.89 a.u. and a depth U₀ of 0.302 a.u. Based …

Photoionization Of Fullerens And Atoms Confined In Fullerenes, Mohammad Hadigheh Javani

Physics and Astronomy Dissertations

The photoionization cross sections of small fullerenes (C₂₈, C₃₂, C₄₀, C₄₄, and C₅₀), and the outer and near-outer shells of atoms (noble gases, alkaline earth) confined endohedrally inside a C₆₀ molecule are calculated employing a time-dependent local density approximation formulation. Plasmon and confinement resonances are found to be a general feature of these cross sections, and dramatic interchannel coupling effects, significantly increasing the atomic cross sections, are exhibited in all cases in the vicinity of the C₆₀ plasmons. Hybridization effects, the mixing of the atomic and cage bound …

Navigating A Moratorium Of Identities: An Autoethnography Analyzing Cultural Capital In The Mathematics Classroom, Candace Williams

Middle and Secondary Education Dissertations

Mathematics teacher identity has emerged as a topic of discussion amongst contemporary researchers in the effort to enlighten, impact, and reform professional practice. There has been little examination, from a personal point-of-view, of how competent mathematics teachers are and how they may use a combination of educational resources, skills, intellect, and practice to gain classroom success. The purpose of this dissertation was to take a critical look at my identities as an African American, female mathematics teacher and investigate what drives me to possess high expectations, motivate learning and foster positive learning environments, support parents, and encourage peers to illuminate …

The Determinants Of The Level Of Cooperation And Conflict In Cross-Strait Relations After 1990, Pao-Wen Li

Political Science Dissertations

This dissertation investigates negative or-positive patterns and the behavioral stability of cross-strait relations with a time-series analysis. It aims to clarify the impacts of these four factors in cross-strait relations: the Cold War legacy, the Chinese Civil War legacy, economic interdependence, and Taiwanese domestic politics. The key findings are as follows.

First, most factors suggested by the existing literature only influence the stability, rather than negative-or-positive patterns, of cross-strait relation. For the Cold War legacy, although the United States played an important role in the formation of the U.S.-China-Taiwan triangle, the U.S. influence mainly works on the stability of cross-strait …

Atom-Specific Modification Of Uracil Bases With Selenium For Rna Structure And Function Studies, Huiyan Sun

Chemistry Dissertations

The atom-specific modification has been extensively applied in RNA function and structure investigations, catalysis analysis, mechanism studies, as well as therapeutics discoveries. Selenium-modified uridine (^SeU-RNA) is one of the naturally occurring modifications that was discovered in bacterial tRNAs (^SeU-RNA) at the wobble position of the anticodon loop. Its exact role in the RNA-RNA interaction, especially during the mRNA decoding is not completely understood but it was proposed that such Se derivatization on tRNAs probably improves the accuracy and efficiency of base-pairing. The wobble base pairs, where U in RNA (or T in DNA) pairs with G …

Conduits Of Intratumor Heterogeneity: Centrosome Amplification, Centrosome Clustering And Mitotic Frequency, Vaishali Pannu

Biology Dissertations

Tumor initiation and progression is dependent on the acquisition and accumulation of multiple driver mutations that acti­vate and fuel oncogenic pathways and deactivate tumor suppressor networks. This complex continuum of non-stochastic genetic changes in accompaniment with error-prone mitoses largely explains why tumors are a mosaic of different cells. Contrary to the long-held notion that tumors are dominated by genetically-identical cells, tumors often contain many different subsets of cells that are remarkably diverse and distinct. The extent of this intratumor heterogeneity has bewildered cancer biologists’ and clinicians alike, as this partly illuminates why most cancer treatments fail. Unsurprisingly, there is no …

Integrating Fuzzy Decisioning Models With Relational Database Constructs, Erin-Elizabeth A. Durham

Computer Science Dissertations

Human learning and classification is a nebulous area in computer science. Classic decisioning problems can be solved given enough time and computational power, but discrete algorithms cannot easily solve fuzzy problems. Fuzzy decisioning can resolve more real-world fuzzy problems, but existing algorithms are often slow, cumbersome and unable to give responses within a reasonable timeframe to anything other than predetermined, small dataset problems. We have developed a database-integrated highly scalable solution to training and using fuzzy decision models on large datasets. The Fuzzy Decision Tree algorithm is the integration of the Quinlan ID3 decision-tree algorithm together with fuzzy set theory …

Data Assimilation For Agent-Based Simulation Of Smart Environment, Minghao Wang

Computer Science Dissertations

Agent-based simulation of smart environment finds its application in studying people’s movement to help the design of a variety of applications such as energy utilization, HAVC control and egress strategy in emergency situation. Traditionally, agent-based simulation is not dynamic data driven, they run offline and do not assimilate real sensor data about the environment. As more and more buildings are equipped with various sensors, it is possible to utilize real time sensor data to inform the simulation. To incorporate the real sensor data into the simulation, we introduce the method of data assimilation. The goal of data assimilation is to …

Distributed Particle Filters For Data Assimilation In Simulation Of Large Scale Spatial Temporal Systems, Fan Bai

Computer Science Dissertations

Assimilating real time sensor into a running simulation model can improve simulation results for simulating large-scale spatial temporal systems such as wildfire, road traffic and flood. Particle filters are important methods to support data assimilation. While particle filters can work effectively with sophisticated simulation models, they have high computation cost due to the large number of particles needed in order to converge to the true system state. This is especially true for large-scale spatial temporal simulation systems that have high dimensional state space and high computation cost by themselves. To address the performance issue of particle filter-based data assimilation, this …

Visualizing Spatio-Temporal Data, Ayush Shrestha

Computer Science Dissertations

The amount of spatio-temporal data produced everyday has sky rocketed in the recent years due to the commercial GPS systems and smart devices. Together with this, the need for tools and techniques to analyze this kind of data have also increased. A major task of spatio-temporal data analysis is to discover relationships and patterns among spatially and temporally scattered events. However, most of the existing visualization techniques implement a top-down approach i.e, they require prior knowledge of existing patterns. In this dissertation, I present my novel visualization technique called Storygraph which supports bottom-up discovery of patterns. Since Storygraph presents and …

Maximum Energy Subsampling: A General Scheme For Multi-Resolution Image Representation And Analysis, Yanjun Zhao

Computer Science Dissertations

Image descriptors play an important role in image representation and analysis. Multi-resolution image descriptors can effectively characterize complex images and extract their hidden information.

Wavelets descriptors have been widely used in multi-resolution image analysis. However, making the wavelets transform shift and rotation invariant produces redundancy and requires complex matching processes. As to other multi-resolution descriptors, they usually depend on other theories or information, such as filtering function, prior-domain knowledge, etc.; that not only increases the computation complexity, but also generates errors.

We propose a novel multi-resolution scheme that is capable of transforming any kind of image descriptor into its multi-resolution …

Development Of Novel Protein-Based Mri Contrast Agents For The Molecular Imaging Of Cancer Biomarkers, Fan Pu

Chemistry Dissertations

Temporal and spatial molecular imaging of disease biomarkers using non-invasive MRI with high resolution is largely limited by lack of MRI contrast agents with high sensitivity, high specificity, optimized biodistribution and pharmacokinetics. In this dissertation, I report my Ph. D. work on the development of protein-based MRI contrast agents (ProCAs) specifically targeting different cancer biomarkers, such as grastrin-releasing peptide receptor (GRPR), prostate specific membrane antigen (PSMA), and vascular endothelial growth factor receptor-2 (VEGFR-2). Similar to non-targeted ProCAs, these biomarker-targeted ProCAs exhibit 5 - 10 times higher r₁ and r₂ relaxivites than that of clinical MRI contrast agents. In …

Building Community In Schools: Narratives Of Possibilities And Limitations In Critical Friends Groups, Shannon Kersey

Educational Policy Studies Dissertations

This study examined one particular type of Professional Learning Community (PLC) called a Critical Friends Group (CFG). School improvement experts strongly encourage educational leaders to cultivate Professional Learning Communities in schools; however, the problem arises in the assumption many school leaders hold that adults know how to learn together and how to effectively collaborate. Training for Critical Friends Groups is specifically designed to address this assumption as well as reveal to participants what the characteristics of a Professional Learning Community are and moreover what it requires to cultivate a true learning community. Therefore, the researcher examined how participants experienced a …