Digital Commons Network^™

A "Time-Conscious" Christmas Carol, Jack Lundquist

Theses and Dissertations

Shortly after Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol was released in 1843, a tradition of adaptation began which has continued seemingly unabated to the present day. Consequently, the tale has become so widely known that one is arguably as likely to have first encountered the iconic miser Scrooge through any number of audio-visual adaptations as through the original work itself. Significant critical attention has been paid to the nature of Scrooge's drastic change from miser to philanthropist. Many would argue that the change, happening both literally and figuratively overnight, is not representative of a genuine psychological transformation. On Christmas day, 2010, …

Contribution Of Trpm2 To Memory Loss In An Alzheimer's Mouse Model, Megan M. Chen

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disease characterized by the progressive deterioration of memory and other intellectual abilities. Accumulation of amyloid-β (Aβ) peptide, the major contributor to the senile plaques central to AD, is thought to mediate neurotoxicity by inducing oxidative stress and calcium dysregulation. Transient Receptor Potential Melastatin type 2 (TRPM2) is a calcium permeable, non-selective cation channel activated under oxidative stress and ultimately induces cell death. The APPSWE/PSEN1ΔE9 double transgenic mouse model carries the human APPswe (Swedish mutations K594N/M595L) and PS1 mutations with a deletion in exon 9 (PS1-dE9), and is one of the most commonly used AD …

Context And Target Search Reversal: Implicit Flexibility And Rapid Adaptation Of Relational Memories Using Visual Search, Ryan Hanson

Theses and Dissertations

Repeated perceptual exposure leads to increased accuracy and decreased response latency - referred to as perceptual facilitation or priming - and generally occurs in the absence of conscious memory experience. One example of a priming task which depends upon contextual relations is termed contextual cuing. It has long been held that context-dependent relations can only be acquired with deliberative or explicit processes. While context learning has historically been attributed to declarative memory, the existence of implicit context learning tasks may be better explained as an implicit relational learning process. Although implicit memories have long been characterized as relatively rigid, such …

An Examination Of Memory In Children With Inattention, Hyperactivity, And Depressive Symptoms, Jordan Marie Constance

Theses

The purpose of the current study was to explore the relationships between Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder, depression, and memory impairment in children. It was hypothesized that level of inattention would negatively correlated with performance on measures of visual-spatial short-term memory and verbal memory. Children with greater levels of depressive symptoms were predicted to perform more poorly than less depressed peers on effortful measures of verbal and visual short-term memory, measures of verbal working memory, and measures of verbal long-term memory recall. Results indicated that impaired performance on one measure of visual-spatial short-term memory was related to increased levels of inattention and depression. …

Testing Location Memory For Threatening And Nonthreatening Stimuli : Implications For Evolutionary Psychological Theorizing., Ryan Patrick Hacklander

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Humans respond to the presence of threatening stimuli more rapidly than nonthreatening stimuli, a trait that some authors believe humans have been selected for. Based on this finding, it has been proposed that humans should also have superior location memory for threatening stimuli, possibly depending on whether stimuli have ancestral (e.g., snakes) or modern (e.g., guns) ecological relevance. This is herein called the Superior Location Memory for Threatening Stimuli (SLMTS) hypothesis. Some authors believe that humans possess a domain-specific adaptation that gives rise to the hypothesized memory advantage for threatening stimuli. The primary aim of this dissertation is to test …

Perdurance And Personhood: A Reply To Burge, Joel Knowles

Theses and Dissertations

This essay is a response to the attack on reductionist and perdurantist views of persons which Tyler Burge presents in a paper entitled "Memory and Perons". Burge's arguments appeal to a specific form of egocentric indexing called de se form, which he suggests is involved in the individuation conditions of the mental states entailed in the exercise of the core psychological competencies of personhood (i.e. intentional agency, perception with use, inference). Burge argues that the preservation of states with de se form requires the possession of a veridical de se memory competency, which in turn requires transtemporal agent identity. Burge …

Mtorc1 Signaling In Memory Formation And Dysfunction, Natalia S. Rozas De O'Laughlin

Dissertations & Theses (Open Access)

The mechanistic Target of Rapamycin Complex 1 (mTORC1) pathway integrates cellular availability of growth factors, energy and amino acids to regulate protein synthesis and autophagy. The mTORC1 pathway has also been shown to be required for memory consolidation, and its dysregulation is associated with many neurological disorders. MTORC1 is negatively regulated by the tuberous sclerosis complex (TSC1/2). When ATP and growth factors are available, TSC1/2 is inhibited and mTORC1 activity can be restored. In a complementary regulatory pathway, amino acids signal to mTORC1 through the Rag GTPases and Ragulator complex, which modulate the translocation of mTORC1 from the cytoplasm to …

Development Of A Neurocognitive Test Battery To Accurately Predict Driving Ability In Patients With Mild Cognitive Impairment And Early Alzheimer's Disease, James Warren Dreher

Chancellor’s Honors Program Projects

No abstract provided.

Deconstructing Saccades : Identifying The Components Of Saccades That Produce Saccade-Induced Retrieval Enhancement., James Matthew Edlin

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Multiple studies have found that performing repetitive saccades for 30 s improves subsequent memory retrieval. Although the effect is well established, the mechanism by which saccades affect retrieval is currently unknown. Saccade-induced retrieval enhancement (SIRE) has been hypothesized to be a product of increasing: interaction between the hemispheres, interaction within the hemispheres, or attentional control. It is currently unknown which components of the saccade activity are necessary to produce SIRE. The saccade activity in previous SIRE research is similar to an orienting activity that produces predictive saccades. Predictive saccades begin as exogenous orienting to a rhythmically alternating target. After a …

Designing The Tangible Experience Of Interactive Memories, Miguel Angel Cardona Jr

Theses

The process for memory keeping in the digital age has become easier, immediate, and more efficient thanks to the advent of sophisticated pocket-sized toolsets that can capture everyday experiences.

Consumer-level photo and video recording products are introduced regularly and boast more fidelity, faster speeds, and greater control than their predecessors. More often than not, these expanding feature sets do not properly serve all of their users' needs.

While the technology exists to allow for a near-complete record of one's life to be made through the use of sensors and storage media, problems involve how best to meaningfully learn from and …

Theory, Synthesis, And Application Of Adiabatic And Reversible Logic Circuits For Security Applications, Matthew Arthur Morrison

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Programmable reversible logic is emerging as a prospective logic design style for implementation in modern nanotechnology and quantum computing with minimal impact on circuit heat generation. Adiabatic logic is a design methodology for reversible logic in CMOS where the current flow through the circuit is controlled such that the energy dissipation due to switching and capacitor dissipation is minimized. Recent advances in reversible logic using and quantum computer algorithms allow for improved computer architectures. Production of cost-effective Secure Integrated Chips, such as Smart Cards, requires hardware designers to consider tradeoffs in size, security, and power consumption. In order to design …

Victory, Reconciliation, And Reunion: The Soldiers’ And Sailors’ Monument Of Easton, Pennsylvania And A Memory Of The Civil War, Bryan Toth

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

Thirty-five years after the Civil War came to an end the people of Easton, Pennsylvania erected a monument to honor the men of Easton and Northampton County that fought and died in the sectional conflict. With the nation recognizing the sesquicentennial of the Civil War the study of how the people of Easton have chosen to remember this conflict can help us better understand the war itself and its ever changing place in the collective national psychology. The Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Monument that was built in Easton’s Centre Square is reflective of a Northern monument design, and a memory of …

Secretin-Modulated Potassium Channel Trafficking As A Novel Mechanism For Regulating Cerebellar Synapses , Michael Williams

Graduate College Dissertations and Theses

The voltage-gated potassium channel Kv1.2 is a critical modulator of neuronal physiology, including dendritic excitability, action potential propagation, and neurotransmitter release. However, mechanisms by which Kv1.2 may be regulated in the brain are poorly understood. In heterologous expression systems Kv1.2 is regulated by endocytosis of the channel from the plasma membrane, and this trafficking can be modulated by adenylate cyclase (AC). The goal of this dissertation was to determine whether AC modulated endocytic trafficking of endogenous Kv1.2 occurred in the mammalian nervous system. Within the brain, Kv1.2 is expressed at its highest levels in the cerebellar cortex. Specifically, Kv1.2 is …

The Making Of Ras Beirut: A Landscape Of Memory For Narratives Of Exceptionalism, Maria B. Abunnasr

Open Access Dissertations

This dissertation examines the memory of Ras Beirut and the various claims to its exceptionalism. I frame its history as a landscape of memory born of the convergence of narratives of exceptionalism. On the one hand, Ras Beirut's landscape inspired Anglo-American missionary future providence such that they chose it as the site of their college on a hill, the Syrian Protestant College (SPC, later renamed the American University of Beirut [AUB]). On the other hand, the memory of Ras Beirut's "golden age" before the outbreak of the Lebanese Civil War in 1975 inspired longings for a vanished past to Ras …

The Enhancing Effect Of Retrieval On Subsequent Encoding: Understanding Test-Potentiated Learning, Kathleen Marie Arnold

Arts & Sciences Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Retrieval practice directly enhances later memory of tested material, a robust effect known as the testing effect (Roediger & Karpicke, 2006b). Numerous experiments have provided support for this effect. However, another important effect of retrieval practice has received far less attention. Retrieval practice can also indirectly enhance learning by potentiating subsequent encoding of tested material, an effect known as test-potentiated learning (Izawa, 1966). Although introduced over four decades ago, little is known about how and when tests enhance subsequent encoding, information that has both practical and theoretical importance. The aim of this dissertation was to enhance understanding of test-potentiated learning …

The Role Of A Camkii/Pka-Protein Degradation-Glur2 Pathway In The Control Of Memory Updating Following Retrieval, Timothy Jarome

Theses and Dissertations

Reconsolidation is thought to be a process whereby consolidated memories can be modified following retrieval. However, very little is known about the molecular mechanisms that regulate this reconsolidation process. In the present series of experiments we tested if memories "destabilize" or become labile following retrieval through a specific signaling pathway. We found that retrieval of a contextual fear memory differentially increased proteasome activity in the amygdala and hippocampus and resulted in unique changes in AMPA receptor subunit expression in these brain regions. These changes were dependent on CaMKII activity, which was required for increases in Rpt6-S120 phosphorylation, proteasome activity and …

Oc Washing And Checking: Examining The Selective Impairments In Evolved Disease Avoidance And Safety Management Mechanisms, Alison G. Aylward

Open Access Dissertations

Three studies were conducted to examine the possibility that the expression of obsessive-compulsive (OC) washing and checking symptoms reflect impairments in cognitive mechanisms underlying adaptations for disease avoidance and physical harm avoidance, respectively. Studies provided initial evidence that specialized attention, memory and reasoning processes exist depending on whether adaptations for disease avoidance or physical harm avoidance are activated. The data provided no support for the hypothesis that individuals expressing OC contamination and physical harm concerns evince concern-related attention, memory, and reasoning biases.

Musical Mood And Musical Arousal Affects Different Stages Of Learning And Memory Performance, Tram Nguyen

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This thesis examined whether the effect of music on memory is attributable to musical mood, musical arousal, context, or some combination of these factors. In Experiment 1, participants performed a face-name paired-association task while music was played in the background. In Experiment 2, the perceptual context (Experiment 2A) and emotional context (Experiment 2B) of music was examined more thoroughly. Experiment 3 examined whether the context effect of musical mood and musical arousal occurs in a recall task (Experiment 3A), a recognition task (Experiment 3B), and an association task (Experiment 3C). The results showed that low arousal music enhanced memory while …

Mémoire Et Silence Autour De La Guerre D’Algérie, Romain Chadaigne

Foreign Languages & Literatures ETDs

The Algerian War has been surrounded with historical amnesia, which the figure of Charles de Gaulle perpetuated by the creation of a national myth that included the concepts of a civilizing mission' and the need to revive its 'glorious past. The question of torture during that period proved discordant with the republican ideals of France and the construction of the myth, thus awkwardly moving the country back and forth between silence and commemoration. The official line of the state, mostly motivated by silence, excluded accounts of torture and resulted in a postcolonial conflict between fragmented memories and a monolithic vision …

Memory As Ecology In The Poetry Of Tomas Tranströmer, Richelle Jolene Wilson

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study is to explore how memory functions ecologically in the poetry of Tomas Tranströmer. The term ecology is useful because of its connotative associations with the natural world as well as its broader definition of being a network of relationships as they function within and relate to their environment. Throughout his oeuvre, Tranströmer positions memory as being an external presence with which he interacts primarily because he honors it as a living being and he feels a poetic responsibility to it. As such, he grapples with the challenges of representation, particularly the limitations of language. Ultimately, …

The Physical Theatre Of War: Language, Memory, And Gender In Black Watch And War Horse, Andrea M. Gunoe

Theses and Dissertations

The public's perception of war is influenced by every media story they see, every account they read, and every story they hear. News telecasts and newspapers tend to lean towards a focus of the grand narratives of war such as political involvement and overarching strategy. Media such as books and film can tell a more personal narrative of the events of war and attempt to display how war "really is" through the use of written and visual language that focuses more on how things happened as opposed to simply what happened. Theatre provides a unique perspective on war as the …

All Animals Will Get Along In Heaven, Camila Nagata

Theses and Dissertations

My final thesis exhibition is directed towards children and parents. My goal is to create a connection between parent and child, and their past, present, and future through memory. Such a connection is accomplished through the implementation of these three different ideas in the artwork: 1) creating different layers of understanding, 2) producing everlasting memories, 3) connecting adult viewers to their past. In addition, I use principles as the foundation for each piece, such as the principles of kindness and learning. These principles are presented to the viewer through parables of current social and political issues, illustrated through my own …

To Live Is To Die: The Effect Of Mortality Salience On Memory And Fear Of Death, Tony F. Bergamini

Undergraduate Honors Thesis Collection

Terror Management Theory proposes that the threat of death produces existential terror, which accentuates the need for security. This effect of mortality salience awareness of death-is well documented for non-conscious thoughts of death (Martens, Burke, Schimel, & Faucher, 2011). The objective of this study, then, is to measure anxiety-or fear of death-in reaction to non-conscious as well as conscious thoughts of death by manipulating the valence (positive vs. negative) and content (death vs. non-death) of a story that participants read. I measured any changes reported in fear of death before and after reading the story. Participants also wrote about their …

Neither Here Nor There, Jeshua W. Holt

Art and Design Theses

Neither Here Nor There deals with the idea of memory indexing and archiving. Examining the construction and categorizing of such information and the possible parallels it may have to the people we become.

Constructing A World War Ii America: The Rhetorical Craftsmanship Of Franklin D. Roosevelt, Tiara Kay Foster

Communication and Rhetorical Studies - Theses

I add to existing scholarship an explanation of the rhetorical priming work that Franklin D. Roosevelt employed to overcome isolationism in the United States. Roosevelt asked the American people to trust him through the next great world crisis and used his prior two terms as well as strategic enemy construction as support. He framed the memory of his first two terms tightly and told them what to remember from their shared experiences to formulate an America ready for war. His leadership through the Banking Crisis and initiation of many domestic policies to keep America great were the basis upon which …

Olfactory Working Memory: The Role Of Perceived Odor Name-Ability, Spencer Lawrence Macadams

Masters Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship among three factors: perceived odorant name ability, whether the odorant was ingested through a single nostril or both nostrils, and how the odorant is represented in working memory. Participants smelled odorants through the left or right nostril or with both nostrils and then provided an identifying label for each odor and rated how accurately their label represented the odor. After a short delay, the participants were given a new stimulus set consisting of new and old odorants. Participants were asked to provide a label for the odor and determine whether …

Brave Hearts And Minds: The Devolution Revolution And The (Re)Building Of The Scottish Nation, Cody Lynn Neidert

Master's Theses

In 1995, the myth-history presented in Mel Gibson’s award winning film, Braveheart, sparked the fires of nationalism in Scotland, leading to the nation’s partial autonomy. Braveheart’s influence on politics, historical memory and cultural identity are undeniable, yet few historians give the film the credit it rightly deserves. This demonstrates that, while it may not have single handily led to Scotland’s devolution in 1999, Braveheart did play a major role in the lead up to the 1997 devolution referendum. The film infused Scotland’s society, culture, and politics with nationalistic pride. Utilizing James DeFronzo’s five critical factors for revolutionary success as a …

The Church Of San Francisco In Mexico City As Lieux De Memoire, Laurence Mcmahon

Architecture Undergraduate Honors Theses

San Francisco, memory, lieux de memoire

Attention And Criminal Charge, Profile And Description: The Effect On Prospective Person Memory, Lindsey Nicole Sweeney

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Prospective person memory is the ability to recognize and react to a missing or wanted individual that one has been asked to be on the lookout for in the future. Prospective person memory relies on several processes including face recognition, event-based prospective memory, and attention. Only recently has research on the role of visual attention on prospective person memory been examined. In this dissertation, the gap between prospective person memory and attention is addressed. Although research on prospective person memory is steadily increasing, the research in this area is still in its infancy and the exact memory mechanisms that affect …

Communities Of Memory: The Utah History Fair And The Utilization Of History And Memory, Nicholas Andrew Demas

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Utah's students, grades 4-12, create projects for the Utah History Fair, Utah's National History Day affiliate program. As far as the rigors of youth academic prowess are concerned, National History Day and the Utah History Fair are amongst the top in the nation. Within the myriad of projects created by Utah's participating students is important information about what aspects of the past captures students' attention and why they choose to research their selected topics. Through a careful examination of student topics from 1981-1984 and 2009-2012, this project taps into what students comprehend about the past. Further inspection into why students …