Digital Commons Network^™

Developing A Word Fragment Completion Task For Measuring Trait Aggression, Steven Khazon

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The goal of this paper was to develop a test that uses the implicit processing style to assess aggression. This paper begins by reviewing current aggression theories and how aggression is assessed. Next it discusses the implicit and explicit processing styles and how scholars have used these methods of information processing to create psychological assessments. Afterwards, it presents a new indirect test of trait aggression that is based on the word fragment completion task and attempts to evaluate its validity in three experiments. In Study 1, psychometric methods are used to derive a 9-item trait aggression scale and initial support …

Deaf Group Identification And Sexual Esteem, Anne M. Willis

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The purpose of this study was to examine sexuality in persons who are deaf. Specifically, it examined group identification and sexual esteem, sexual satisfaction, and sexual preoccupation. Deafness was viewed in this study as not only a level of hearing loss, but as a source of identity and culture. While varying levels of group identification are well defined in the literature, it is unclear as to how this impacts the individual's experience. Analysis of the current sample (N = 68) suggested that there was a slight difference in sexual esteem between subjects who identified as Bicultural, Immersed, Marginalized, and Hearing. …

Cetyltrimethylammonium Halide-Coated Electrodes For The Detection Of Dopamine In The Presence Of Interferents, Amber J. Yeary

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Specially constructed carbon paste electrodes were coated with 10 mM cetyltrimethylammonium halide (CTAX) solutions, bromide and chloride being the counter anions. These surfactant modified electrodes were used to detect the catecholamine neurotransmitter dopamine using cyclic voltammetry. The coated electrodes gave reproducible quasi-reversible behavior for the analyte dopamine over a range of concentrations from 1 mM to 200 mM. When combined in solution with common interferents ascorbic acid (1 mM) and uric acid (300 μM), all cathodic and anodic current peaks maintained resolution at the biological pH of 7.4. When the coating solutions were below the critical micelle concentration (0.5 mM), …

Examining The African American Male Undergraduate Students' Perceptions Of Barriers And Factors For Success, Christopher James Hogan

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The purpose of this research study was to examine the barriers African American males face in higher education and the factors that promote academic success. This study focused on African American males who attended a large Midwestern public university.Their perceptions were collected through multiple interviews. The interviews were transcribed and coded for themes. In examining the perceptions of African American males it was found that the barriers they face (academic preparedness, transition into the instructional environment and identity development) and the factors that promote academic success (peer group influence, student involvement and mentoring relationships) at the research institution are similar …

Development And Evaluation Of An Interface Aid To Support Web Based Information Seeking For The Blind Research Study, Carissa Ann Brunsman-Johnson

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Information seeking on websites has become more and more challenging for people who are blind. Screen readers attempt to make that task easier by introducing new commands and functionality but there still exists a fundamental gap in the difficulty for people who are blind compared to their sighted counterparts. This research identifies the strategies used by people who are blind and sighted to create an information seeking model, develop the Keywords Expected for Your Search (KEYS) conceptual model for assisting task performance and evaluate a KEYS prototype of this concept for information search and retrieval.

This information seeking model was …

Real-Time Fault Diagnosis Of Automotive Electrical Power Generation And Storage System, Luis Farfan-Ramos

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Automobiles depend more and more on electric power. Analysis of warranty data by automotive OEMs shows that faults in the automotive electrical power generation and storage (EPGS) system are often misdiagnosed. Therefore, monitoring of the state of health (SOH) of the automotive EPGS system is vital for early and correct diagnosis of faults in it, ensuring a reliable supply of electric power to the vehicle and reducing maintenance costs. In this research project, a model-based SOH monitoring method for the EPGS system is developed without the requirement of an alternator current sensor. A model representing the dynamic relationship between the …

Graphene Based Anode Materials For Lithium-Ion Batteries, Sree Lakshmi Cheekati

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Improvements of the anode performances in Li-ions batteries are in demand to satisfy applications in transportation. In comparison with graphitic carbons, transition metal oxides as well as graphene can store over twice amount of lithium per gram. Recently, graphene-based anodes for Li-ion batteries are under extensive development. In this research, lithium storage characteristics in graphene oxide (GO), GO/Manganese acetate (GO/MnAc), GO/manganese oxide (GO/MnOx) composites and Nano Graphene Platelets (NGP) were studied. The prepared GO delivered reversible capacities of 706mAh/g with an average columbic efficiency of 87%. Reversible capacities of 533 mAh/g were observed for GO/MnAc composite. GO/MnOx nanocomposite thermal annealed …

Evaluating Oblique Interventions In Reducing Anti-Glbt Prejudice, Steven Michael Saus

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Existing evaluative research of interventions to reduce anti-GLBT prejudice remains methodologically incomplete, but suggests that those most in need of the intervention display the least amount of change - if not a strengthening of their prejudicial opinion. Cognitive and marketing research suggest that directly challenging prejudicial attitudes will strengthen, rather than reduce prejudice.

This research created an instrument to replace the Index of Attitudes toward Homosexuals and then employ an experimental design to provide much-needed methodological rigor to the evaluation of interventions. This design will be in service of assessing the impacts from a directly- and indirectly-challenging survey-based intervention. Contrary …

Accounting For The Role Of The Public In Democratic States' Counterterrorism Policies: A Comparative Case Study Analysis Of Spain And The United Kingdom, Megan R. Cronenwett

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Democratic states are more susceptible to terrorist attacks and yet have the most responsibility to ensure their counterterrorism responses are in accordance with democratic principles. Respect for the rule of law and the freedoms of speech and press are just a few of the principles ingrained in democratic philosophy and likewise, by the very nature of a democracy, democratic states must be held accountable to their citizenries. These factors, however, can be a cause of dissention and can lead to a dangerous overreaction or a disproportionate response by democratic states in their counterterrorism policies, including leading to the very undemocratic …

Cognitive Cyber Weapon Selection Tool Empirical Evaluation, Preethi Vinayak Ponangi

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Keeping in pace with the latest technological innovations in the cyber world, the misuse of this powerful infrastructure has also increased proportionally. Although a lot of recent attacks have been documented in the mainstream media, counter measures for cyber defense mechanism have only received some attention in the recent research literature. Most of the global attacks in the cyber space have proved to be carefully planned premeditated attacks. Considering that most of these attacks are co-coordinated by humans, a new area of psychological weaponry is being investigated by the research community. This study aims to empirically evaluate the effectiveness of …

Hsv-1 Infection In Keratinocyte Cell Lines Treated With Mitotic Inhibitors, Asma A. Abbas

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The hypothesis for this research was: Herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) infection of murine keratinocyte cell lines (HEL-30 and PAM-212) treated with mitotic inhibitors leads to silencing of virus replication. At 0.1 (Multiplicity of infection) MOI, PAM-212 keratinocytes showed some cell lysis and viral plaques were seen in HEL-30 keratinocyte cultures. PAM-212 keratinocytes, infected at 0.01 MOI, were more susceptible to the lytic effect of HSV-1 than were HEL-30 cells. In this study, 5-fluoro-2'-deoxyuridine (FUDR) treatment of both keratinocyte cell lines permitted an increase survival of HSV-1- infected keratinocytes especially for PAM-212 cell line which was further examined for …

The Decision To Pursue Self-Interests: Cultural Implications At The Individual Level, Corinne Patrice Wright

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In the current study I examined the relationships between personality, culture, and the decision to pursue self-interests. Specifically, I proposed that conscientiousness, extraversion, idiocentrism, masculinity, and power distance would be positively related to the decision to pursue self-interests whereas agreeableness would be negatively related to the pursuit of self-interests. I also proposed an exploratory examination of interactions between personality and individual cultural values in predicting the decision to pursue self- interests. As predicted, idiocentrism and masculinity significantly predicted the decision to pursue self-interests. In addition, masculinity moderated the effects of both agreeableness and neuroticism on the pursuit of self-interests. Also, …

Cyclopentadienone Conversions To Terephthalates And Cycloadditions Of Alkynes And Azides, Sarah E. Bragg

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Cyclopentadienone derivatives can be converted via a Diels-Alder reaction to multifunctional terephthalate derivatives, which can then be converted to poly(phenylene vinylene) derivatives. It was demonstrated that terephthalate derivatives can be simply and reproducibly synthesized from 2,5-diethoxycarbonyl-3,4-diphenylcyclopentadienone with a variety of acetylenes, having yields ranging from 63% to quantitative yields. The terephthalate derivatives synthesized varied from oils to crystalline solids, but were readily isolated and generally had high rates of completion despite expected steric factors. Terephthalate derivatives with pendent acetylenes were formed in reactions with as low as a 3:1 ratio of diacetylene to cyclopentadienone. A terephthalate derivative with a pendent …

Relationships Between Organizational Variables And The Inclusive Language Used By Leaders, Matthew J. Keller

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I investigated relationships between organizational variables and leadership, as measured by inclusive language use. Specifically, I examined whether organization size and profitability relate to the organization leader's use of language. I expected language use to be more inclusive in smaller and more profitable organizations, relative to larger and less profitable organizations. In this study, I used a regression approach to test my hypotheses. Results indicated that organization size was positively related to passive voice indicators, in support of Hypothesis 1. However, profitability was negatively related to inclusive pronouns and positively related to passive voice indicators, both of which were opposite …

Environmental Enrichment-Mediated Neuroprotection Against Traumatic Brain Injury:Role Of Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor, Kyle Leann Traver

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Each year there are over 1.7 million traumatic brain injuries (TBI) in the United States causing long-term health deficits and significant medical costs. This growing epidemic has led researchers to find methods for treating and preventing these injuries. Environmental Enrichment (EE) is an innovative technique shown to improve cognitive and functional outcomes following a TBI; however, the beneficial effects before injury have not been established. Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor (BDNF) has been determined as a neuroprotective biomolecule in TBI. This research examined these two protective components and their roles in TBI. It was hypothesized that BDNF mRNA and protein levels would …

Design Of A Low Power And Area Efficient Digital Down Converter And Sinc Filter In Cmos 90-Nm Technology, Steven John Billman

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A digital down converter (DDC) typically receives a digital input that has been generated by an analog to digital converter (ADC) operating at intermediate frequency (IF) in an RF receiver chain. The function of the DDC is to down convert the IF signal to baseband in phase (I) and quadrature (Q) signals and is a very important component in wireless receivers. A Digital Down Converter (DDC) is developed based on square wave local oscillators facilitating a multiplier-less implementation with no constraints on the sampling frequency. The DDC includes a pseudo multi-rate SINC low pass filter which exhibits better performance compared …

Computed Tomography Reconstruction: Investigating The Effect Of Varying Circle Diameter, William F. Sanders Iv

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In Computed Tomography (CT) reconstruction, several methods for determining the intensity of individual pixels from the back-projection of the scanned profiles exist. The standard reconstruction method uses linear interpolation between ray values to determine pixel intensity. This study quantifies the effects of varying circle diameter on the accuracy of an alternative method where the pixel is approximated as a circle and the area contributions calculated.

A library of 104 scans in 3 image families was created by a synthetic CT scanner and reconstructed with circle radii from 0.1 to 1.0 pixel in 0.1 pixel steps. Images were compared against a …

The Air Close To The Trees: Evolution And Innovation In U.S. Army Assault Helicopter Units During The Vietnam War, Adam Thomas Givens

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Throughout the Vietnam War the United States Army's use of assault helicopters was unprecedented in modern warfare. Although planners originally anticipated their utilization on a European battlefield rather than against an insurgency, Army Aviation adapted, allowing them to overcome an uncertain future. Due to the unconventional nature of the conflict, continual revisions in tactics, techniques, and procedures ensured that assault helicopter doctrine was never concrete, but always shifting. Multiple factors influenced these developments, and manifold channels of dissemination allowed combat knowledge ultimately to influence training and doctrine. This thesis finds that previous works focus too heavily upon the initial large-scale …

Framework For Cohesive Zone Model Based Multiscale Damage Evolution In A Fatigue Environment, Michael Andrew Thomas

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The focus of this research is to develop a framework to track damage evolution in a structural model subjected to a fatigue environment. This framework incorporates a micromechanical approach of continuous damage modeling, where damage in a homogenized representative microstructure is introduced at the continuum scale through the material constitutive matrix. In this research, damage in the representative microstructure is simulated utilizing cohesive zone models (CZM) whose properties are a function of the magnitude of applied stresses and the resulting separation. In order to minimize the mesh dependence of the cohesive zone model an adaptive meshing technique is employed. A …

Beyond Aurora, Ryan Patrick Ireland

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Set in 1888-9, this historical fiction narrative chronicles the events leading up to, and following the Martin brothers' failed quest for vengeance. The brothers work as mercenaries for a Plains sheriff before being sent into exile. They eventually part ways and each of them spirals into their own brand of madness.

Self-Calibrating Cricket Motes For Indoor Navigation, Yogendra Jayant Patil

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Global Positioning System (GPS) plays a vital role for providing localization to the autonomous robots. But the quality of the GPS signal degrades in an indoor location and hence GPS cannot be used for indoor localization. Cricket motes are location-aware system that can provide localization service to its users in an indoor location. Cricket motes apply the acoustic ranging technique to find distance between two points. But before a user can use this localization system, assigning coordinate system to the motes requires manual assistance. This project presents a novel algorithm for self-calibration of the cricket motes to a coordinate system …

The Kozeny-Carman Equation Considered With A Percolation Threshold, Lee Brenson Porter Ii

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A procedure has been developed for calculating permeability (k) from the Kozeny-Carmen equation, a procedure that links ideas from percolation theory with the ideas of Koltermann and Gorelick (1995) and Esselburn et al. (2011). The approach focuses on the proportion of coarser pores that are occupied by finer sediments and defines a threshold proportion. For proportions below this threshold, the unoccupied coarser pores percolate. Following the ideas of Koltermann and Gorelick (1995), the effective grain-size term in the Kozeny-Carman equation is calculated using the geometric mean if below the threshold proportion, and with the harmonic mean if above. Following ideas …

Synthesis Of Fluorinated Indenofluorenediones And Bis(2-Fluorophenyl) Substituted Ppv, Jeffrey D. Fogle

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The compound 2,5-di(ethoxycarbonyl)-3,4-di(2-fluorophenyl)cyclopentadienone was successfully synthesized and led to the synthesis of terephthalates, di(hydroxymethyl)s, di(chloromethyl)s, diacids, diacid chlorides and indenofluorenediones having the pendent groups null, hexyl and 2-(4-benzothiazolyl)phenyl. All new compounds were characterized by melting point, IR, 1H NMR, 13C NMR, 19F NMR, GC/MS and combustion analysis. Most of the forementioned compounds showed an indication of restricted rotation with the appearance of trans and cis diastereomers. The asymmetric compounds showed the occurrence of four isomers. In some spectra, signals corresponding to all four isomers were visible. Through-space 1H-19F, 13C-19F and 19F-19F coupling was observed for most compounds in 1H NMR, …

Influence Of Design Parameters On Cup-Stem Orientations For Impingement Free Range Of Motion In Hip Implants, Dishita Prakashbhai Patel

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The objective of this investigation is to determine the optimum positions of the prosthesis in total hip arthroplasty that produce least amount of impingement. Theoretical ranges of six basic hip motions were determined under walking, stumbling, internal rotation at 90 flexion and external rotation at 0 extension with 15 abduction, using mathematical models and validated for impingement using finite element analysis. A generalized approach, where impingement does not occur, was developed in this study to understand influence of design parameters such as head-neck ratio, neck-shaft angle, oscillation angle, and stem offset on cup-stem orientations such as cup inclination, cup anteversion, …

Bio-Functionalized Clay Nanoparticles For Wound Healing Applications, Christopher Anthony Vaiana

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Wound healing is a complex, multi-step process that can be summarized into three stages, namely hemostasis and inflammation, proliferation, and finally tissue remodeling. Battlefield wound healing demands rapid hemostasis using clotting or cauterizing agents to immediately limit blood loss, but this occurs at the expense of proper tissue repair beyond hemostasis. Layered silicate clays such as kaolin and montmorillonite (MMT) have been previously shown to induce blood clotting due to their ability to form charged interactions with clotting factors. The charge characteristics of sodium MMT (Na-MMT) also enable functionalization with active biomolecules. Herein we first functionalize three types of alumoinosilicate …

Growth And Characterization Of Carbon Nanomaterials, Jay Patel

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In this thesis, single and multi-layered graphene films were epitaxially grown on either Si-face or C-face of SiC single crystal substrates. The film growth conditions, such as decomposition temperatures and pressures, and their surface morphologies were optimized. These films were then characterized by using surface analysis tools including SEM, TEM, AFM evanescent wave microscopy and electron educed spectroscopy. In addition to studying graphene decomposed from SiC crystals, carbon nanotube material was fabricated using a floating catalyst technique. These carbon nanotube material was then studied for potential cathode applications in this thesis. Field emission properties of these cathodes was measured and …

An Evaluation Of Habitat Structure And The Distribution Of Rare And Common Darters In Ohio, Erin Lee Kingdom

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Darters are small benthic-feeding fish. I examined reasons why some darter species are rarer than others based on geographic range, habitat specificity, and local population size using the Ohio EPA database and field research. The Qualitative Habitat Evaluation Index (QHEI) represented habitat quality. I examined drainage area and gradient at the landscape-scale, riparian and channel characteristics at the reach-scale, and substrate, cover, and riffle/pool characteristics at the microhabitat scale. Some rare species occur in few rivers in Ohio, but throughout a basin, while other rare species occur only in moderate-sized rivers. Most rare species occur at only a few sites …

Changes In Avian Community Composition At Sugarcreek Metropark Between 1978 And 2010, Jennifer Lynne Hays

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Quantifying changes in forest avian diversity is a challenging, but necessary task for development of effective conservation plans. While small changes in diversity accumulate over time, these changes do not necessarily reflect overall long-term trends in species diversity. Long-term changes from established baseline conditions may be more interpretable because the changes in diversity are assessed over longer periods. In 1978, Dr. Reed Noss (1981) initiated a study of thirty-three breeding bird censuses at Sugarcreek Reserve (Metropark) in Southwestern Ohio and evaluated the species richness and composition during the breeding and post-breeding season to inform ecological reserve design theory. In 2010, …

Multidisciplinary Optimization Framework For High Speed Train Using Robust Hybrid Ga-Pso Algorithm, Veera Venkata Sunil Kumar Vytla

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High speed trains are the most efficient means of public transportation. However the speed of the train needs to be increased (> 350 km/hr) to cover large distances in a short time to make it accessible to large population. With the increase in speed, number of issues related to efficiency, safety and comfort like the aerodynamic drag, structural strength, as well as the noise levels inside and outside of the train etc. need to be considered in the design of the high speed trains. Hence making it a multi disciplinary design problem. There are a large number of parameters from …

Surface Stress Sensors For Closed Loop Low Reynolds Number Separation Control, Christopher R. Marks

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Low Reynolds number boundary layer separation causes reduced aerodynamic performance in a variety of applications such as MAVs, UAVs, and turbomachinery. The inclusion of a boundary layer separation control system offers a way to improve efficiency in conditions that would otherwise result in poor performance. Many effective passive and active boundary layer control methods exist. Active methods offer the ability to turn on, off, or adjust parameters of the flow control system with either an open loop or closed loop control strategy using sensors. This research investigates the use of a unique sensor called Surface Stress Sensitive Film (S3F) in …