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End Matter, Vol. 69 No. 2 Jul 2009

End Matter, Vol. 69 No. 2

Western North American Naturalist

No abstract provided.

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Factors Influencing Selection Of Road Culverts As Winter Roost Sites By Western Burrowing Owls, Damon Williford, Marc C. Woodin, Mary Kay Skoruppa Jul 2009

Factors Influencing Selection Of Road Culverts As Winter Roost Sites By Western Burrowing Owls, Damon Williford, Marc C. Woodin, Mary Kay Skoruppa

Western North American Naturalist

The conversion of coastal prairie to farmland in southern Texas has drastically reduced the number of available animal burrows, thereby forcing western Burrowing Owls (Athene cunicularia hypugaea) wintering in southern Texas to use nontraditional roost sites such as roadside culverts. We studied factors influencing the selection of road culverts as roost sites by Burrowing Owls by comparing characteristics of 34 occupied and 100 unoccupied culverts. All occupied culverts were in agricultural habitat. Culverts with small diameters (≤16 cm) and those with an east–west orientation were occupied by Burrowing Owls in greater proportions than were culverts with larger diameters …

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Distribution Of The Eastern Woodrat (Neotoma Floridana Campestris) In Southern Nebraska, Kole A. Kugler, Keith Geluso Jul 2009

Distribution Of The Eastern Woodrat (Neotoma Floridana Campestris) In Southern Nebraska, Kole A. Kugler, Keith Geluso

Western North American Naturalist

The eastern woodrat (Neotoma floridana) occurs throughout eastern and central parts of the United States. In Nebraska, 3 of 9 subspecies inhabit the state, including N. f. campestris, N. f. attwateri, and N. f. baileyi. We determined distributional limits of N. f. campestris along 2 river systems in southern Nebraska. As observed with other mammalian species in the Great Plains, we suspected that the distribution of woodrats likely had expanded, reflecting continued regulation of rivers and the concomitant increase in forests along them. We documented N. f. campestris at 7 sites in 5 counties, including a recent …

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Reliability Of Sixteen Balance Tests In Individuals With Down Syndrome, Romina Villamonte Jul 2009

Reliability Of Sixteen Balance Tests In Individuals With Down Syndrome, Romina Villamonte

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to determine the reliability of sixteen balance tests in individuals with Down syndrome (DS). The following tests were performed on 21 participants with DS, aged 5-31 years of age; standing test on firm and soft surfaces with the eyes opened and closed, a balance subset of the Bruininks-Oseretsky test, full turn, timed-up-and-go test, forward reach, and sit-to-stand. Each participant completed all 16 assessments twice on one day and then again on a subsequent day for a total of four trials. Seven tests had reliability coefficients greater than 0.55; one-leg stand on floor (0.76), on …

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A Methodology For Designing Product Components With Built-In Barriers To Reverse Engineering, Stephen P. Harston Jul 2009

A Methodology For Designing Product Components With Built-In Barriers To Reverse Engineering, Stephen P. Harston

Theses and Dissertations

Reverse engineering, defined as extracting information about a product from the product itself, is a common industry practice for gaining insight into innovative products. Both the original designer and those reverse engineering the original design can benefit from estimating the time and barrier to reverse engineer a product. This thesis presents a set of metrics and parameters that can be used to calculate the barrier to reverse engineer any product as well as the time required to do so. To the original designer, these numerical representations of the barrier and time can be used to strategically identify and improve product …

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Function Of The Notch/Delta Pathway In Ophthalmic Trigeminal Placode Development, Matthew K. Ball Jul 2009

Function Of The Notch/Delta Pathway In Ophthalmic Trigeminal Placode Development, Matthew K. Ball

Theses and Dissertations

The ophthalmic trigeminal placode (opV) is the birth place of one cell type of sensory neurons contributing to the trigeminal ganglion. Signals from the neural tube induce placodal identity within the surface ectoderm. Specified opV placode cells then up-regulate neuron differentiation markers and migrate to the ganglion. Several molecular pathways have been shown to act in opV placode cell development. Despite this, signals that specify individual neurons from within the opV placode remain unknown. However, it is known that components of the Notch signaling pathway are expressed in the opV placode. I tested the role of Notch signaling in opV …

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Approaching Autism: A Qualitative Review Of Maternal And Familial Adaptation Among Families Of Children With Autism, Stephanie A. Williamson Jul 2009

Approaching Autism: A Qualitative Review Of Maternal And Familial Adaptation Among Families Of Children With Autism, Stephanie A. Williamson

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study is to serve as an exploration of family experiences in relation to a child's autism diagnosis. Specifically, it focuses on family adaptation as explained by McCubbin, et al.'s Double ABCX Model (1983). Given that mothers play a crucial role in the family system and are often the primary caregivers for children with disabilities, maternal adaptation is also investigated. This study employs qualitative methods, including in-depth personal and group interviews. Mothers shared their perceptions and experiences surrounding children's autism diagnoses, including initial recognition of atypical behavior and development, the formal diagnosis process, and subsequent transitions within …

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Factors Affecting Folic Acid Stability In Micronutrient Fortified Corn Tortillas, Jordan S. Chapman Jul 2009

Factors Affecting Folic Acid Stability In Micronutrient Fortified Corn Tortillas, Jordan S. Chapman

Theses and Dissertations

Folate degradation in micronutrient fortified corn masa and tortillas was evaluated using masa prepared from either nixtamalized corn flour or fresh nixtamal. A laboratory evaluation of the effects of pH, iron, and holding time at elevated temperature on folate loss in corn flour masa failed to show significant differences in any variable-treatment combination. An additional study was conducted at a commercial tortilla mill in Guadalajara, Mexico using masa prepared from fresh nixtamal. Commercial nixtamal was fortified with one of two different micronutrient premixes, containing iron, zinc, riboflavin, thiamin, niacin and either unencapsulated or lipid-encapsulated folic acid. A batch of each …

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An Investigation Of Middle School Student Interest, Perception, And Attitude Toward Technology And Engineering, Kari Marie Cook Jul 2009

An Investigation Of Middle School Student Interest, Perception, And Attitude Toward Technology And Engineering, Kari Marie Cook

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to investigate middle school student perception and attitude toward technology and engineering and to better understand how the gender of the teacher, gender of the student, and information provided in technology classes affected their perception and attitude. To accomplish this, the Technology Attitude Scale, and the Pupil's Attitudes Toward Technology—United States assessment instruments were used to form the basis of a new survey instrument focused on technology and engineering perception, use, and interest. The new survey instrument is called the Technology and Engineering Attitude Scale (TEAS) survey. Multiple 7th grade technology engineering classes from …

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Motivation In Learners Of Japanese As A Foreign Language: An Analysis Of Profiles And Behaviors, Britainy Dawn Sorenson Jul 2009

Motivation In Learners Of Japanese As A Foreign Language: An Analysis Of Profiles And Behaviors, Britainy Dawn Sorenson

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines motivation in English L1 learners of Japanese as a Foreign Language (JFL) by analyzing the students' responses to a questionnaire modeled after Dörnyei's research and an observational instrument called the Motivation Behaviors of Language Learning (MBLL) modeled after Guilloteaux and Dörnyei's (2008) research on motivational teaching strategies on behaviors. The data from the questionnaires were subjected to a discriminative analysis of students answers in relation to a high grade (receiving a B- or higher) or lower (C+ or lower) in their Japanese classes. A Factor Analysis of the data was also carried out. The discriminative results could …

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Co-Occurrence With A Congeneric Species Predicts Life History And Morphological Diversification In The Mexican Livebearing Fish Poelicopsis Baenschi, Laura E. Scott Jul 2009

Co-Occurrence With A Congeneric Species Predicts Life History And Morphological Diversification In The Mexican Livebearing Fish Poelicopsis Baenschi, Laura E. Scott

Theses and Dissertations

Understanding why some species coexist and others do not remains one of the fundamental challenges of ecology. While several lines of evidence suggest that closely related species are unlikely to occupy the same habitat because of competitive exclusion, there are many cases where closely related species do co-occur. Research comparing sympatric and allopatric populations of co-occurring species provides a framework to understand the role of phenotypic diversification in species coexistence. In this study I focus on the livebearing fish Poeciliopsis baenschi and ask if differences in phenotypic traits among populations can be explained by the presence or absence of the …

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Creating An Expected Profile For Affinity 2.5 From A Sample Of Non-Pedophilic, Exclusively Heterosexual, College Age Males, R. D. C. Boardman Jul 2009

Creating An Expected Profile For Affinity 2.5 From A Sample Of Non-Pedophilic, Exclusively Heterosexual, College Age Males, R. D. C. Boardman

Theses and Dissertations

The Affinity 2.0 has been recently upgraded to the Affinity 2.5. Both instruments purport to measure sexual interest using viewing time as a form of measurement using non-pornographic images of people of varying ages and genders. The Affinity 2.5 increased the number of slides by 42.9%. This increase may have impacted the expected Chi square weights established for the Affinity 2.0 for non-pedophilic, exclusively heterosexual males. The purpose of this study was to create new expected Chi square weights for the Affinity 2.5 for non-pedophilic, exclusively heterosexual males. Additionally, this study re-examined the temporal stability of the Affinity 2.0 using …

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Ion Transport Behaviors Upstream And Downstream From The Sampling Cone Of An Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometer, Haibin Ma Jul 2009

Ion Transport Behaviors Upstream And Downstream From The Sampling Cone Of An Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometer, Haibin Ma

Theses and Dissertations

Inductively coupled plasma - mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) is the technique of choice worldwide for trace elemental determinations because of its excellent ionization ability, low detection limits and fast analysis speeds. However, the ICP-MS still suffers from some disadvantages, such as spectral overlap and severe matrix effects. Matrix effects or interferences, partly arise from changes in the analyte transmission through the interfacial region between the ICP and mass spectrometer with changes in sample matrix. Better understanding of the transmission behaviors of analyte through the sampling and skimmer cones will provide the insights needed to alleviate matrix interferences and to improve the …

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Relaxation Of Vibrationally Excited Trifluorobenzene And Tetrafluorobenzene By Collisions With Carbon Dioxide, Alan M. Johnson Jul 2009

Relaxation Of Vibrationally Excited Trifluorobenzene And Tetrafluorobenzene By Collisions With Carbon Dioxide, Alan M. Johnson

Theses and Dissertations

An investigation into the relaxation of highly vibrationally excited trifluorobenzene and tetrafluorobenzene following collisions with carbon dioxide was performed using diode laser transient absorption spectroscopy. A 248 nm excimer laser prepared the vibrationally hot (E'~41,000 cm-1) fluorobenzene molecules. Large amounts of translational and rotational energy are transferred through collisions between the hot donor molecule and CO2. Rate constants and collisional probabilities were calculated by probing the high J states (J=58~80) of CO2 in the vibrational ground state, 0000, with measurements taken 1 µsec, ¼ the mean gas collision time, following each excimer laser pulse. The energy transfer probability distribution function, …

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The Role Of Smpb In The Early Stages Of Trans-Translation, Deanna June Cazier Jul 2009

The Role Of Smpb In The Early Stages Of Trans-Translation, Deanna June Cazier

Theses and Dissertations

Ribosomes stall on defective messenger RNA transcripts in eubacteria. Without a mechanism to release stalled ribosomes, these cells would die. Transfer-messenger RNA (tmRNA) and small protein B (SmpB) reactivate stalled ribosomes in a process known as trans-translation. Together, tmRNA and SmpB mimic alanyl-tRNA, entering the A site of stalled ribosomes and accepting transfer of the stalled polypeptide. A portion of tmRNA is then positioned as a template for the ribosome to resume translating. The tmRNA open reading frame encodes a proteolysis tag to mark the aberrant polypeptide for degradation and a stop codon to release the ribosome. How are tmRNA …

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Triangulation Process: An Examination Of Differentiation And Family Stress As Indicated By Bowen, Michael Robert Whitehead Jul 2009

Triangulation Process: An Examination Of Differentiation And Family Stress As Indicated By Bowen, Michael Robert Whitehead

Theses and Dissertations

This study examined the Bowenian notion that triangulation is precipitated by the interaction between a person's level of differentiation-of-self and the amount of chronic familial emotional anxiety. Another aspect of this study was to examine the relationship between marital quality and child triangulation. The sample for this study was taken from the Flourishing Families project and included only the families that indicated marriage as their relationship status, resulting in a total of 336 families with a target child between the ages of 11 and 14. Initial bivariate analysis indicated that differentiation-of-self, and family stress would be associated with child triangulation. …

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Literary Case Histories And Medical Narratives In Nineteenth-Century Britain, Travis Wade Austin Jul 2009

Literary Case Histories And Medical Narratives In Nineteenth-Century Britain, Travis Wade Austin

Theses and Dissertations

Literature and medicine are not usually seen as related disciplines, but scholars have already begun producing fruitful scholarship regarding historical and aesthetic interactions between them. This thesis adds to that scholarship by examining medicine and literature in nineteenth-century Britain. More specifically, Thomas De Quincey's Confessions of an English Opium-Eater and Robert Louis Stevenson's Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde both use nineteenth-century medical case conventions to tell their stories. Furthermore, because both works deal with addiction, divided selves, and the power that physical substances can have on morality and character, these two works provide an excellent comparison coming …

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Zero-Inflated Censored Regression Models: An Application With Episode Of Care Data, Jonathan P. Prasad Jul 2009

Zero-Inflated Censored Regression Models: An Application With Episode Of Care Data, Jonathan P. Prasad

Theses and Dissertations

The objective of this project is to fit a sequence of increasingly complex zero-inflated censored regression models to a known data set. It is quite common to find censored count data in statistical analyses of health-related data. Modeling such data while ignoring the censoring, zero-inflation, and overdispersion often results in biased parameter estimates. This project develops various regression models that can be used to predict a count response variable that is affected by various predictor variables. The regression parameters are estimated with Bayesian analysis using a Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) algorithm. The tests for model adequacy are discussed and …

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Russian Parenting: Interactions With Relational Aggression Over Time, Emily Kim Keister Jul 2009

Russian Parenting: Interactions With Relational Aggression Over Time, Emily Kim Keister

Theses and Dissertations

The current study considers Russian parenting (psychological control) and child relational aggression across a decade. We used parent and child driven path analyses to test whether peer-directed and romantic relational aggression is associated with psychological control both concurrently as well as longitudinally. Using AMOS, parent and child driven models were compared and the parent driven models were found to have more significant concurrent and longitudinal linkages. Maternal psychological control was significantly stable over time; relational aggression was also stable over time for girls. Maternal psychological control at Time 1 was associated with relational aggression for girls at Time 1 and …

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Numerical Solutions For Stochastic Differential Equations And Some Examples, Yi Luo Jul 2009

Numerical Solutions For Stochastic Differential Equations And Some Examples, Yi Luo

Theses and Dissertations

In this thesis, I will study the qualitative properties of solutions of stochastic differential equations arising in applications by using the numerical methods. It contains two parts. In the first part, I will first review some of the basic theory of the stochastic calculus and the Ito-Taylor expansion for stochastic differential equations (SDEs). Then I will discuss some numerical schemes that come from the Ito-Taylor expansion including their order of convergence. In the second part, I will use some schemes to solve the stochastic Duffing equation, the stochastic Lorenz equation, the stochastic pendulum equation, and the stochastic equations which model …

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Learning English Through Interactive Weblogs: Student Experiences Blogging In The Secondary Esl Classroom, Glori H. Smith Jul 2009

Learning English Through Interactive Weblogs: Student Experiences Blogging In The Secondary Esl Classroom, Glori H. Smith

Theses and Dissertations

This qualitative action research project examined the experiences of high school English language learners as they created personal weblogs and responded to queries on a class weblog. The data from the project demonstrates that blogging as a classroom writing activity is effective in helping students to obtain, process and construct the English language.

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The Grass Seed Pathogen Pyrenophora Semeniperda As A Biocontrol Agent For Annual Brome Grasses, Thomas E. Stewart Jul 2009

The Grass Seed Pathogen Pyrenophora Semeniperda As A Biocontrol Agent For Annual Brome Grasses, Thomas E. Stewart

Theses and Dissertations

Bromus tectorum and other annual brome grasses have invaded many ecosystems of the western United States, and because of an annual-grass influenced alteration of the natural fire cycle on arid western range lands near monocultures are created and conditions in which the native vegetation cannot compete are established. Each year thousands of hectares become near monocultures of annual brome grasses. Pyrenophora semeniperda, a generalist seed pathogen of annual grasses, shows major potential as a possible mycoherbicide that could help in reducing the monocultures created by annual grasses. The purpose of this research was to identify the requirements for isolating …

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Trauma, Attachment, And Family Therapy With Grandfamilies: A Model For Treatment, Deena D. Strong, Roy A. Bean, Leslie L. Feinauer Jul 2009

Trauma, Attachment, And Family Therapy With Grandfamilies: A Model For Treatment, Deena D. Strong, Roy A. Bean, Leslie L. Feinauer

Faculty Publications

Population estimates indicate that approximately 1.5 million children are in grandparent-headed households without any parents present. This type of grandfamily is often created when biological parents are unable or unwilling to care for their children. Trauma is often experienced as a precursor to, or a consequence of, the biological parents' inability or unwillingness to care for their children. The well-being of both grandparent and grandchild may be affected in grandfamilies. A treatment model is presented that integrates trauma, attachment, and family systems theories and proposes that healing is facilitated through the emerging attachment between the grandparent and grandchild.

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Meta-Analysis Using Bayesian Hierarchical Models In Organizational Behavior, Michael David Ulrich Jul 2009

Meta-Analysis Using Bayesian Hierarchical Models In Organizational Behavior, Michael David Ulrich

Theses and Dissertations

Meta-analysis is a tool used to combine the results from multiple studies into one comprehensive analysis. First developed in the 1970s, meta-analysis is a major statistical method in academic, medical, business, and industrial research. There are three traditional ways in which a meta-analysis is conducted: fixed or random effects, and using an empirical Bayesian approach. Derivations for conducting meta-analysis on correlations in the industrial psychology and organizational behavior (OB) discipline were reviewed by Hunter and Schmidt (2004). In this approach, Hunter and Schmidt propose an empirical Bayesian analysis where the results from previous studies are used as a prior. This …

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“Where Is Thy Glory?” Moses 1, The Nature Of Truth, And The Plan Of Salvation, Dan Belnap Jul 2009

“Where Is Thy Glory?” Moses 1, The Nature Of Truth, And The Plan Of Salvation, Dan Belnap

Religious Educator: Perspectives on the Restored Gospel

No abstract provided.

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A Narrative Account Of The Wider Impact Of The 7 July 2005 London Bomb Attacks, Shahid Bux, Sarah M. Coyne Jul 2009

A Narrative Account Of The Wider Impact Of The 7 July 2005 London Bomb Attacks, Shahid Bux, Sarah M. Coyne

Faculty Publications

The London bombings on 7 July 2005 highlighted the prevailing terrorist threat to the UK. The present study addressed the psychological response of community (n=294) indirectly exposed to the attacks to discern he broader impact and effects of terrorism. Qualitative content analysis was used to develop a profile of emotions and responses to the attacks. This was supplemented by the use of linguistic analysis demonstrating the enormous heterogeneity and complexity of responses to terrorism. In light of previous work on the wider impact of terrorism, the present study highlighted a relatively restrained impact of terrorism. Notwithstanding this observation, responses were …

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A Sophisticated Library Search Strategy Using Folksonomies And Similarity Matching, William Lund, Yiu-Kai D. Ng, Maria Soledad Pera Jul 2009

A Sophisticated Library Search Strategy Using Folksonomies And Similarity Matching, William Lund, Yiu-Kai D. Ng, Maria Soledad Pera

Faculty Publications

Libraries, private and public, offer valuable resources to library patrons. As of today the only way to locate information archived exclusively in libraries is through their catalogs. Library patrons, however, often find it difficult to formulate a proper query, which requires using specific keywords assigned to different fields of desired library catalog records, to obtain relevant results. These improperly formulated queries often yield irrelevant results or no results at all. This negative experience in dealing with existing library systems turn library patrons away from library catalogs; instead, they rely on Web search engines to perform their searches first and upon …

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Open Access: What Is It And What Does It Mean For Academic Authors?, C. Jeffrey Belliston Jun 2009

Open Access: What Is It And What Does It Mean For Academic Authors?, C. Jeffrey Belliston

Faculty Publications

What is Open Access? The modern Open Access (or OA) movement has historical roots — some fairly recent and some much older. If one has a correct understanding of these historical roots, the OA movement will properly be seen as evolutionary rather than as revolutionary. In addition to this theoretical treatment of the "what is OA" question, a treatment of what John Willinsky has called the "flavors" of OA will elucidate the very practical side of the same question." What does OA mean for academic authors? Just as with the "what is OA" question, there are multiple sides to the …

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Novel Cinchona Alkoloid Derived Ammonium Salts As Phase-Transfer Catalysts For The Asymmetric Synthesis Of Beta-Hydroxy Alpha-Amino Acids Via Aldol Reactions And Total Synthesis Of Celogentin C., Bing Ma Jun 2009

Novel Cinchona Alkoloid Derived Ammonium Salts As Phase-Transfer Catalysts For The Asymmetric Synthesis Of Beta-Hydroxy Alpha-Amino Acids Via Aldol Reactions And Total Synthesis Of Celogentin C., Bing Ma

Theses and Dissertations

Project I. Cinchona alkaloid-derived quaternary ammonium salts have been successfully used as phase-transfer catalysts, particularly in asymmetric alkylations. Our group applied this type of catalyst in the synthesis of β-hydroxy α-amino acids via aldol reactions and discovered that the Park-Jew catalyst afforded good yields and good enantiomeric excess of the syn diasteromers, but negligible diastereoselectivity. This project was therefore focused on the synthesis of novel cinchonidine-derived catalysts with the Park-Jew catalyst as the lead structure. The C3 position of cinchonidine nucleus was modified to achieve dimers and catalysts possessing electron-deficient alkyne and alkene moieties. Synthesized catalysts were tested in the …

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An Irresistible Invitation: Enhancing Academic Publication In Rhetoric And Composition By Inviting Online Peer Commentary, Sarah L. Cutler Jun 2009

An Irresistible Invitation: Enhancing Academic Publication In Rhetoric And Composition By Inviting Online Peer Commentary, Sarah L. Cutler

Theses and Dissertations

In many ways the current publishing system in rhetoric and composition, which centers on the peer-reviewed journal, undermines core values we hold for ideal scholarly communication. These values include collaboration, dialogue, participation, and public engagement. Though the current system's methods of preserving, distributing, and maintaining quality control of scholarly work contradict our values, technological developments have made possible alternative publishing models that could better uphold our values. Developing a preprint archive where scholars develop and share ideas before submitting them for publication in traditional peer-reviewed journals would bring our publishing process closer to our ideals.

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