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A Sers And Sem-Edx Study Of The Antiviral Mechanism Of Creighton Silver Nanoparticles Against Vaccinia Virus, Catherine Binns Anders

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Silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) are well-recognized as antiviral agents but little is known about their mechanism of action. In this study, it was hypothesized that unfunctionalized, Creighton AgNPs of an average diameter of 11 nm will form covalent bonds with vaccinia virus (VV) mainly through the external, entry fusion complex (EFC) proteins. The EFC is housed on the external membrane of VV and contains 9-12 proteins having numerous cysteine groups, intramolecular disulfide bonds, aromatic moieties and myristic acids bound to the N-terminus of glycine residues. VV (1012 PFUs) was incubated at 37oC for one hour with Creighton AgNPs that were size …

Juror Decision Making: The Impact Of Attractiveness And Socioeconomic Status On Criminal Sentencing And An Examination Of Motivated Reasoning In Mock Jurors, Jennifer M. Kutys

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Individuals are bombarded with stereotypes every day in the United States. It is impossible to eliminate the effect of these stereotypes in any situation; however, the criminal justice system strives to find ways to minimize the impact of these stereotypes in the courtroom. In this study, the effects of socioeconomic status and attractiveness of a female defendant on sentencing severity, perceived recidivism, and deservedness of punishment in a murder trial were examined. The study was also designed to investigate how jurors may engage in cognitive processes such as motivated reasoning when biases are pointed out to them. Attractiveness and socioeconomic …

Cathodic Deposition Of Triangular Tungsten Clusters From Ionic Liquids: An Explorative Study, Linda N. Ubadigbo

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In the present work, the triangular tungsten clusters {[W3O2(O2CCH3)6](H2O)3}(CF3SO3)2 and {[W3O2(O2CCH2CH3)6](H2O)3}(BF4)2. 5.5H2O were dissolved in both hydrophobic and hydrophilic ionic liquids (ILs) and subjected to a cathodic potential of roughly 2V. It was proposed that successful deposition of these metal clusters on a platinum electrode would yield Pt-supported anodic catalysts which could be used in ethanol fuel cells (EFCs). Visual examination of the electrode surfaces indicated that a film had been deposited, however, the surface with W3(CF3SO3)2 quickly oxidized when removed from the IL. Therefore, SEM imaging and EDX analysis of the W3(BF4)2 surface were performed. The data indicated that …

A Hardware Compact Genetic Algorithm For Hover Improvement In An Insect-Scale Flapping-Wing Micro Air Vehicle, Kathleen M. Timmerman

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Wing and airframe damage to insect scale micro air vehicles potentially cause significant losses in pose and position control precision. Although one can imagine many possible means of adapting the flight controllers to restore precise pose and position control, severe limits on computational resources available on-board an insect sized vehicle render many of them impractical. Additionally, limits on sensory capability degrade any such vehicle's ability to critique its own performance. Any adaptive solutions one would propose to recover flight trajectory precision, therefore, would require a resource light implementation, preferably without need for relatively expensive floating-point operations, along with the capability …

Academic Engagement Of College Student Leaders, Galen R. Crawford

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Academic engagement of college student leaders may be affected due to the amount of time and energy that is needed to lead a student organization. This affect is tested through a mixed method research design where self-generated questions in conjunction with portions of the National Survey of Student Engagement and Cooperative Institutional Research Program are used to gain a deeper understanding of academic engagement of college student leaders. Results of the study indicate that student leaders have a relatively high level of academic engagement. Student Affairs professionals can use this research to gain an understanding of the complexity of academic …

Optimization Of Wsu Total Ankle Replacement Systems, Bradley Jay Elliott

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Total ankle arthroplasty (TAR) is performed in order to reduce the pain and loss of ambulation in patients with various forms of arthritis and trauma. Although replacement devices fail by a number of mechanisms, wear in the polyethylene liner constitutes one of the dominating failure modes. This leads to instability and loosening of the implant. Mechanisms that contribute to wear in the liners are high contact and subsurface stresses that break down the material over time. Therefore, it is important to understand the gait that generates these stresses. Methods to characterize and decrease wear in Ohio TARs have been performed …

Quantitative Analysis Of Glycinergic Neurons Including Ia Inhibitory Interneurons In The Ventral Spinal Cord Using A Bac-Glyt2-Egfp Transgenic Mouse Model, Palak Rajeshkumar Painter

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We are interested in understanding the development of reciprocal inhibition, an important sensory-motor circuit that prevents co-contraction of antagonist muscles during locomotion. This effect is mediated by a subset of glycinergic neurons termed Ia inhibitory interneurons (IaINs). Transgenic mouse models are useful in helping to identify subsets of neurons in developing animals. In this thesis we first wanted to test the BAC-GlyT2-eGFP mice model by measuring GFP expression overlap in neurons with glycine in late-stage embryos (E17.5) and early postnatal animals (P0/P1). Our results suggest more than 98% of glycinergic neurons at these stages also express GFP in GlyT2-EGFP transgenic …

Inventory Systems With Transshipments And Quantity Discounts, Gregory Daniel Noble

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This research advances knowledge in the area of inventory systems and the relationship between competing retailers and suppliers of goods. This dissertation studies retailers that face uncertainty in the demand for goods and who purchase the goods from a single supplier. A game theoretic methodology is developed to analyze supplier pricing decisions and retailer quantity decisions and interactions in a competitive transshipment system where quantity discounts are offered. The system studied differs from previous work in the subject by introducing quantity discounts from supplier to retailer into a system of competitive retailers that transship stock. Analysis of these systems focuses …

A Geophysical Investigation Searching For Archaeological Features At Sunwatch Indian Village, Danielle Torridi

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A near-surface geophysical survey was conducted at SunWatch Indian Village in Dayton, Ohio. The main motivations for this investigation were to evaluate geophysical methods to locate, map, and identify features associated with the SunWatch Indian Village archaeological site and to expand the area surveyed. Previous studies (Houston, 2002; Miller, 2004) have determined that burials covered with limestone slabs are relatively easy to detect and map geophysically with GPR and electrical resistivity. This was reconfirmed in this study by collecting 3D GPR data over a 'control' location previously surveyed by Houston (2002) and Miller (2004). However, similar anomalies were not observed …

The Role Of Corticotropin-Releasing Factor In The Behavior And Proinflammatory Activity Of Separated Guinea Pig Pups, Vincent Rasahd Alexander

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Isolation of guinea pig pups in a novel environment first produces active behaviors such as vocalizing and movement; over time, these behaviors wane and pups show characteristic passive responses similar to those produced by increased proinflammatory activity. Further, isolation of pups on two consecutive days has recently been shown to enhance those passive responses on the second day. Endogenous proinflammatory activity is thought to mediate the enhancement (sensitization). An injection of corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF) has been shown to increase passive behavior, possibly by increasing proinflammatory activity. The present study further investigated the role of CRF on proinflammatory activity and behavior …

Analytical Chemical Sensing Using High Resolution Terahertz/Submillimeter Wave Spectroscopy, Benjamin L. Moran

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A highly sensitive and selective Terahertz gas sensor used to analyze a complex mixture of Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) has been developed. To best demonstrate analytical capabilities of a THz chemical sensor, we chose to perform analytical quantitative analysis of a certified gas mixture using a prototype gas phase chemical sensor that couples a commercial preconcentration system (Entech 7100A) to a custom high resolution THz spectrometer. A Method TO-14A certified mixture of thirty-nine VOCs was purchased. Twenty-six of the thirty-nine chemicals were identified as suitable for THz spectroscopic detection. The Entech 7100A system is designed and marketed as an inlet …

Phosphorus Mass Balance For Hypertrophic Grand Lake St. Marys, Ohio, Astrea Taylor

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A phosphorus (P) budget was created for Grand Lake St Marys (GLSM), a hypertrophic lake in Ohio with a highly agricultural watershed. Inputs totaled 71,200 ± 8,400 kg P, with tributaries contributing the majority of P inputs at 60,100 ± 4,500 kg P (84%). Other inputs included benthic flux at 9% (internal loading), point-source discharges into streams at 5%, and atmospheric deposition at 1%. Rainfall in 2011 was greater than average, which may affect results when comparing this P budget to years with average rainfall. Transport of P by two rivers draining GLSM was approximately three times greater than benthic …

Human Action Recognition By Principal Component Analysis Of Motion Curves, Daniel Stephen Chivers

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Human action recognition is used to automatically detect and recognize actions per- formed by humans in a video. Applications include visual surveillance, human-computer interaction, and robot intelligence, to name a few. An example of a surveillance application is a system that monitors a large public area, such as an airport, for suspicious activity. In human-machine interaction, computers may be controlled by simple human actions. For example, the motion of an arm may instruct the computer to rotate a 3-D model that is being displayed. Human action recognition is also an important capability of intelligent robots that interact with humans.

General …

Illusionary Strength; An Analysis Of Female Empowerment In Science Fiction And Horror Films In Fatal Attraction, Aliens, And The Stepford Wives, Jennifer Lynn Ruben

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An expanded notion of empowerment along with three specific theories-Beauvoir's concept of the Other, Speciesism, Cyborg Feminism-is used to analyze the female protagonists and antagonists in the following 1970's and 1980's science fiction and horror films: Fatal Attraction, Aliens, and The Stepford Wives. The female protagonists are allowed more access to power as human beings pitted against nonhuman antagonists, but these characters are ultimately not empowering for women because they reinforce rather than undermine the patriarchal structure. Implications for further research encourage a critique of female empowerment based on both gender and species.

Computational Investigation Of Ethanol And Bifuel Feasibility In Solstice Engine, Adam Michael Blake

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A Gasoline Direct Injection (GDI) engine enables an increased fuel efficiency and higher power output than a conventional Port Fuel Injection (PFI) system. By injecting pressurized fuel straight into each cylinder of an internal-combustion engine, the degree of fuel atomization is increased, as well as the fuel vaporization rate. In order to further harness the effects of direct injection, ethanol is implemented as a fuel. The cooling effect of ethanol fuel droplets changing to vapor inside the combustion chamber facilitates a higher compression ratio, thus increasing engine power and efficiency. Three dimensional computational simulation is used to investigate the feasibility …

The Biogeochemistry Of Carbon Isotopes In Local Lakes, Stephen Edward Sadurski

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Photosynthesis, respiration, and decay of organic matter all involve the transfer of carbon among the carbon-bearing species in the systems. These biogeochemical processes also fractionate the carbon isotope composition, which results in changes to the carbon isotope composition of the dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) pool. This thesis presents two separate, but related studies regarding the influence of biogeochemical processes on carbon isotopes in local lakes. Crystal Lake is a small but deep glacial lake (12.5 acres, 11.9 meters). The study shows that during thermal stratification, the heaviest carbon can be found in the epilimnion near the surface, where photosynthesis dominates …

Hearts And Minds: Us Foreign Policy And Anti-Americanism In The Middle East An Analysis Of Public Perceptions From 2002-2011, Joshua I. Cummins

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The literature on anti-Americanism in the Middle East suggests that there is a strong relationship between US foreign policy and public attitudes of the United States in the region. This study analyzes Middle Eastern public opinion of the United States from 2002 until 2011, while using quantitative and qualitative analysis to determine whether US foreign policy in the Middle East correlates with approval levels of the United States. The purpose of this study was to determine if US foreign policy measures such as US support for oppressive regimes, US support for Israel, and US intervention in domestic affairs affects the …

Why Is There Such A High Concentration Of Vertebrate Remains Within A Bone-Bed Along Clapp Creek, Williamsburg County, South Carolina?, Jennifer R. Soehner

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A phosphatic bone-bed occurs along Clapp Creek in Kingstree, South Carolina, within the east-central portion of the coastal plain. The location of the research site is within the Chicora Member of the Williamsburg Formation. The paleoenvironment of this site was most likely a complex estuary with microenvironments that included tidal channels, tidal deltas, tidal flats, marshes and subtidal bays. The high diversity and large time span in the bone-bed is explained by the transgressive environment and storm deposits. The phosphate content of the bone-bed is from the calcium phosphate occurring in the coprolites of carnivores and the higher concentration of …

Computational Investigations Of The Adsorption Of Molecular Hydrogen On Graphene-Based Nanopore Model, Jared Duncan

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Computational modeling using classical grand canonical Monte Carlo simulations and first-principles calculations were carried out to study the adsorption of molecular hydrogen on nanoporous carbon modeled by the slit- pore geometry. It has previously been shown that hydrogen adsorption on pristine porous carbon has dependence on pore size and that an optimum pore size, which exhibits the maximum mass uptake, exists. There have been suggestions that doping graphitic nanocarbon structures with Pd enhances their adsorption capacity. The pore-size dependence of this change in adsorption brought about by Pd and the conditions at which improvement in adsorption can occur have not …

Traffic Surveillance Using Low Cost Continuous Wave (Cw) Doppler Radars, Wu Yang

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Low cost un-modulated continuous wave (CW) radar (CW Doppler radar) can be used to measure the speed of a vehicle. Traditionally, a radar gun, a lidar gun or a speed camera is used to capture a speeding vehicle. A radar gun can either measure the fastest vehicle or the vehicle with the strongest reflection. If a radar gun is used, a police officer must determine which vehicle has the speed shown on the screen of the radar gun. A lidar gun can precisely detect a speeding vehicle, but it requires precise aiming. When a camera is used, a picture will …

High-K Material Based Leaky-Wave Antenna Design, Implementation, And Manufacture, Jiahui Wang

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Leaky-wave antennas are a class of antennas which apply a traveling wave on a guiding structure as the main radiation mechanism. The properties of leaky-wave antennas are light weight, easy to fabricate, and readily integrated into conventional millimeter-wave systems. These features make leaky-wave antennas attractive. The most important characteristic is that the antenna can steer the beam direction through changing the operating frequency rather than switching the antenna itself. Variety types of leaky-wave antennas have been introduced and developed during the past 70 years. However, there is no existing leaky-wave antenna which can widely steer the beam scanning angle by …

House Dust Mite Induced Gene Expression And Cytokine Secretion By Human Dermal Fibroblasts, Jananie Rockwood

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House dust mites are a group of mites that are commonly found in homes worldwide. The three most commonly found species of house dust mites in temperate environments in the United States are Dermatophagoides farinae, Dermatophagoides pteronyssinus and Euroglyphus maynei. House dust mite allergens are strongly associated with asthma, perennial rhinitis and atopic dermatitis. Whole dust mite extracts contain both allergen and non-allergen molecules that can influence cell functions in the skin, mucous membranes of the nose and eyes, and epithelial linings of the lungs. Extracts from the three different house dust mite species contain different molecules that induce different …

Synthesis Of Mixed Metal Trinuclear Cluster Of Molybdenum And Tungsten And Their Electrochemistry In Ionic Liquids, Jessica Ann Davis

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Research is being done to find a material to improve the efficiency of the ethanol fuel cell by using a platinum free catalyst. Mo2WO2(O2CCH3)6 cluster was synthesized using Mo2(O2CCH3)4 dimer and Na2WO4. One ionic liquid, EMImBF4, was synthesized using methylimidazolim and chloroethane in the first step, and EMImCl and NaBF4 in the second step. The electrochemical properties of the ionic liquid and the metal cluster were studied. A potential window for the EMImBF4 was found to be 3.2 V. The ionic liquid has a wider potential window, and allowed for the observation of the redox properties of Mo2WO2(O2CCH3)6. The electrochemistry …

Regulation Of The Transcription And Subcellular Localization Of The Tumor Suppressor Pten By Δnp63Α, Mary Kathryn Leonard

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Non-melanoma skin cancers (NMSCs) are the most common form of cancer in the United States with an estimated 3.5 million new cases each year. Surgical excision is the main treatment for NMSC, but leaves the potential for disfiguring scars and does not fully reduce the risk of recurrence since the surrounding tissue is also sun damaged and may contain tumor-promoting mutations. By understanding the molecular etiology of NMSC we may be able to expand treatment options to more than just resection. Normal epidermal development is dependent upon the expression of the transcription factor p63. Amplification of the ΔNp63α isoform is …

A Psychoeducational Approach To Improving College Student Mental Health, Harlan Keith Higginbotham

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Mental health problems among the college population continue to increase in terms of frequency and severity. At the same time, the number of high school graduates who enroll in institutes of higher learning is also increasing making the college years an ideal opportunity to address existing and emerging mental and psychological challenges. Traditional counseling center services--while shown to be effective--are not appropriate for all students and are too resource intensive to meet the full need of the college population. Creative strategies are necessary to address the growing need for mental health services among college and university students that are resource …

Predicting Premorbid Ability In African American Elders Using Demographic And Performance Variables, Hayley Kristinsson

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Researchers and clinicians require a method of estimating an elderly individual's premorbid ability level in order to determine the amount of cognitive decline that has occurred. This issue has received a great deal of attention within the research literature; however, little attention has been paid to this issue specifically in elderly African American elderly adults. Although researchers have examined the predictive utility of demographic variables, few studies have examined whether including additional demographic variables (i.e., quality of education) improves prediction of premorbid ability. The current sample consisted of 46 African American elderly adults who did not exhibit any cognitive impairment …

Uhf-Sar And Lidar Complementary Sensor Fusion For Unexploded Buried Munitions Detection, Randy S. Depoy Jr.

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Given the UHF bands properties of foliage and round penetration, a UHF-SAR image contains both above- and below-surface scatterers. The problem of detecting sub-surface objects is problematic due to the presence of above-surface scatterers in the detection images. In case of a single-pass anomaly image or a two-pass change image, the resulting anomalies or changes are due to scatterers above and below the surface, where the above surface anomalies/changes act as confusers. LIDAR digital elevation models (DEM) provide georegistered information about the above-surface objects present in the UHF-SAR scene. Detection of the above-surface objects in the LIDAR domain is used …

Characterization Of Ceramic Matrix Composite Materials Using Millimeter-Wave Techniques, Matthew Lee Bischoff

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This thesis describes studies that were carried out on Ceramic Matrix Composite (CMC) materials. These materials were provided by the Air Force Research Laboratory for evaluation in the millimeter-wave frequency region with the goal of developing Non-Destructive Evaluation techniques. This thesis centers on describing the measured reflections from an Oxide/Oxide and SiC/SiNC CMC materials. Models were derived from the Fresnel equations to account for the reflected and transmitted waves in these materials. System models were developed to describe the power coupling of the spectra measured in three separate measurement systems. Using these models the complex index of refraction was determined …

Characterization Of Hiv-1 Rev Mutants, Jennifer Lynn Chang

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The HIV Rev protein has the ability to bind tubulin heterodimers and depolymerize microtubules (MTs) in vitro (Watts et al. 2000). These interactions may account for MT defects observed in HIV infected cells or cells that over-express Rev. Watts et al. hypothesized Rev interacts with MTs by a mechanism shared with Kinesin-13 (Kin13) proteins owing to the presence of a shared amino acid sequence. Kin13 proteins are potent MT depolymerizing agents affecting MT behavior during mitosis. To test this hypothesis, point mutations were introduced into Rev substituting amino acids shared with Kin13. In this study, eight mutant Rev proteins (T34A, …

Mechanisms Of Success: Plant-Herbivore Interactions And The Invasion Of Non-Native Lonicera Species In North America, Deah Lieurance

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Invasion by non-native species is a complicated process and many hypotheses have been proposed to explain how invasive plant species are often poor competitors in their native range, but dominant in their novel range including the enemy release and novel weapons hypotheses. Additionally, many invasive species are characterized as being tolerant and/or resistant to both damage and limitations in abiotic resources. These hypotheses are based on plant-plant, plant-microbial, and plant-herbivore interactions in the invaders novel range and are not mutually exclusive. The genus Lonicera (Caprifoliaceae) includes approximately 200 species worldwide, with 18 native and 16 introduced species in North America. …