Digital Commons Network^™

Exploring The Impact And Benefits Of A Health Education Program At Turtle Mountain, Shane Michael Martin

Theses and Dissertations

The Turtle Mountain Chippewa Tribal members in North Dakota have long suffered from severe poverty and accompanying social stresses that threaten the social fabric of the community. Ninety percent of students attending college from the Turtle Mountain Reservation qualify for educational assistance based on financial need (Northwest Area Foundation, 2014). Youth, between the ages of 10 and 18, struggle with historic and present day, multi-generational, trauma and poverty exhibiting risk factors exemplified by suicide attempts; depression; hopelessness; despair; alcohol, meth and/or other substance abuse; increased anger; conflicts; aggression, violence; and poor performance in school. Schools on the Turtle Mountain Reservation …

Observing Range Of Motion (Rom) In Baseball Athletes During An Off-Season Resistance Training Program And Practice, Jimmy Justin Morin

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to observe possible changes in ROM of the shoulder and the hip after an off-season resistance training program and practice. The participants engaged in their normal off-season fall ball practice and off-season training regimen. Participants (N=20) were recruited from The University of North Dakota Baseball team. Before the athletes began their off-season training, a pre-test measurement was taken on shoulder Internal Rotation (IR), External Rotation (ER), Horizontal Adduction (HAdd), and hip and knee flexion. Resistance training took place three days a week for twelve weeks, and fall ball practice was four days a week …

30 Day Lunar/Martian Planetary Habitation Analog: Subjective Crew Analysis Of Behavioral Health, Travis Nelson

Theses and Dissertations

Long duration spaceflight poses risks to astronauts from stressors including challenging living environments, rigorous workloads, physical and mental fatigue, interpersonal conflict, mission uncertainty, emergencies, isolation and confinement. Analog space exploration simulations on Earth provide researchers with controlled environments to train and study human spaceflight operations. The findings of this study provided data on self-assessed metrics from an analog crew (N=3) who independently completed subjective reports of sleep quality, stress, anxiety, fatigue, mental exertion, and also provided objectively assessed sleep quality data by biometric watches. The daily mean reports from subjects were compared across time in order to ascertain possible quarterly …

Secondary Social Studies Teachers’ Perceptions Of Special Education, Kelli Ann Odden

Theses and Dissertations

Through educational reform and federal mandates, general and special education teachers’ responsibilities are designed to intersect. Focusing on secondary social studies teachers, the purpose of this qualitative study was to understand the teachers’ perceptions of special education and how this influences the implementation of special education services in the classroom. From data collected through interviews and analyzed through Moustakas’ phenomenological design, two textural themes emerged (expertise and communication) in addition to three structural themes (placement, Individual Education Plan (IEP)-Reader’s Digest Version, and time). Findings indicate that social studies teachers appreciated the role of special education, but their perception was focused …

The N-Terminus Of Type Iii Secretion Needle Protein Yscf From Yersinia Pestis Functions To Modulate Innate Immune Responses, Patrick Osei-Owusu

Theses and Dissertations

The type III secretion system is employed by many pathogens, including the genera Yersinia, Shigella, Pseudomonas, and Salmonella, to deliver effector proteins into eukaryotic cells. The injectisome needle is formed by the polymerization of a single protein, e.g., YscF (Yersinia pestis), PscF (Pseudomonas aeruginosa), PrgI (Salmonella enterica SPI-1), SsaG (Salmonella enterica SPI-2), or MxiH (Shigella flexneri). In this study, we demonstrated that the N termini of some needle proteins, particularly the N terminus of YscF from Yersinia pestis, influences host immune responses. The N termini of several needle proteins were truncated and tested for the ability to induce inflammatory responses …

Risk Factors For Cholelithiasis (Gallstones) Among Female Veterans, Mila Pak

Theses and Dissertations

Background and Purpose: Gallstones affect up to 15% of the U.S. adult population. Women are at greater risk for cholelithiasis, especially if they are overweight, over forty years of age, or have had children. The Veterans Health Administration (VHA) performed 114,653 cholecystectomy surgeries with 107,975 patients diagnosed with cholelithiasis from 2008 to 2013. Female veterans may be at even greater risk for cholelithiasis. However, research with this vulnerable population is sparse. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to examine physiological and environmental risk factors that may be associated with cholelithiasis among female veterans.

Study Design and Theoretical Framework: This …

Reconceptualizing Privacy: An Examination Of The Developing Regulatory Regime For Facial Recognition Technology, David James Potter

Theses and Dissertations

The National Telecommunications and Information Administration have convened a series of meetings to create a voluntary code of conduct for the commercial use of facial recognition technology. This research asks and answers three questions related to the creation of the voluntary code of conduct: 1) How is the regulatory regime of FRT emerging in the U.S.? 2) What are the roles of the various stakeholders in shaping the commercial regulation of FRT? 3) How does FRT challenge our current conceptions of privacy? Data has been gathered to answer these questions using participant observation and semi-structured interviews. The data was analyzed …

N-Cadherin Expression And Emt Progression In Arsenic- And Cadmium-Transformed Urotsa, Elizabeth Sandquist

Theses and Dissertations

Environmental agents are common causes of bladder cancer. Specifically, arsenic (As3+) and cadmium (Cd2+) are known carcinogens implicated in the development of bladder cancer. Previous studies from our laboratory have shown that As3+ and Cd2+ can cause malignant transformation of normal immortalized bladder urothelial cells, which can form tumors when injected subcutaneous or intraperitoneal into nude mice. Microarray analysis of repeated metal transformation in parallel revealed that N-cadherin was the most upregulated gene in As3+ transformants, and a top induced gene in Cd2+-transformed cells. The switch from E-cadherin to N-cadherin is a well-known indicator of the epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition occurring in …

Recall Of Novel Words In Adolescents Following A Brief Mindfulness Exercise, Anna Lauren Schimmelpfennig

Theses and Dissertations

Mindfulness has been associated with various benefits, including enhanced attention, improved recall, and increased emotional well-being. Previous research has suggested that a brief mindfulness exercise can enhance recall of novel words in female college students. Participants in the current study were 82 students (41 female, M = 14.6, SD = 1.2) from a rural, Midwestern secondary school. Participants were randomly assigned to listen to a 20-minute body scan exercise or a control lecture before learning English-Swahili word pairs. Results revealed no significant effect of group on immediate or delayed recall of word pairs. Additionally, there was no significant effect of …

The Effects Of An Active Study Break Intervention In College Students: An Observational Study, Kathryn Joann Southard

Theses and Dissertations

Background: Sedentary lifestyles are a major public health concern. Research has shown that frequent active breaks are beneficial to productivity, mental and physical health, and may prevent obesity.

Purpose: This study examined the effectiveness of a signage intervention in a university library to promote the use of physically active (AB) compared to inactive (IB) study breaks.

Methods: College students were observed over three weeks: pre-intervention (PRE); signage intervention (SIGN); and post-intervention (POST). Each week of observation consisted of 12 hours, (6, 2-hour segments) on Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday (36 hours total). SIGN consisted of table tents and signs posted in …

An Analysis Of The Factors Influencing Self-Rated Health In East Asia, William Charles Stangler

Theses and Dissertations

An accurate assessment of a population’s health is a valuable tool for a nation in terms of planning and policy making. In this paper, I use cross-sectional data from the 2010 East Asian Social Survey to create a model for self-rated health. In this paper I pay particular attention to how factors that affect psychological well-being influence one’s self-rated physical health. These factors include measures of religion, trusting other people, and refraining from visiting a doctor. What I find is that among the respondents of the East Asian Social Survey, non-religious people are 11% more likely to have a high …

The Relationships Among Imagery Use, Imagery Ability And Mental Toughness In Adolescent Figure Skaters, Michele Marie Sullivan

Theses and Dissertations

Coaches and athletes have requested strategies that develop and maintain mental toughness because they find it to be an essential part of performance (Clough, Earle, & Sewell, 2002). Yet, little research has been conducted to examine psychological skills that contribute to gain and maintain mental toughness. This study examines imagery and mental toughness in adolescent figure skaters. Imagery use was assessed by the Sport Imagery Questionnaire- Children (Hall, Munroe-Chandler, & Fishburne, 2009) and imagery ability with the Movement Imagery Questionnaire-Children (Martini, Carter, Yoxon, Cumming, & Ste-Marie, submitted December 2014). Mental toughness was assessed using the Mental Toughness Index (Gucciardi, Hanton, …

Changing Bike Mode Share Between Time Periods For Suffolk County, Ma, David Wiosna

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis looks at the impact of new bikeways on the rate of bicycle commuting among census tracts in the city of Boston, MA. Data from 2000 and averages from 2009-2013 are compared. Bikeways are negligible in the year 2000, but many were built after implementation of new policy in 2007. Data for 2009-2013 is interpolated into a common zonal scheme using 2000 census tract boundaries. Regression analysis is performed on socio-demographic and new bikeway variables. Results indicate that new bikeways are likely not cause of greater bike mode share in city of Boston.

Development And Validation Of The Scale Of Atheist Microaggressions (Sam), Louis Anthony Pagano

Theses and Dissertations

Atheists in the United States are a gradually growing population representing an increasingly important percentage of the population (Pew Research Survey, 2012). The United States, a largely religious country, and its citizens cultivate many negative positions and principles towards Atheists that progress into discriminatory actions of varying degrees. To date there have been limited attempts to assess how Atheists experience and perceive discrimination in a generally religious country that does not trust Atheists or feel that they fit with the paradigms of what it means to be an American. The purpose of this dissertation project was to create an instrument …

Marine Boundary Layer Cloud And Drizzle Properties Over Arm Azores Site, Peng Wu

Theses and Dissertations

In this study, a new method has been developed to retrieve the marine boundary layer (MBL) cloud microphysical properties, which provides a complete diurnal variation of MBL cloud properties for 19-month dataset at the Azores. All nighttime monthly means of cloud liquid water path (LWP) exceed their daytime counterparts with an annual mean LWP of 140 g m-2, which is ~30.9 g m-2 larger than the daytime mean. The seasonal and diurnal variations of cloud LWC and optical depth basically follow the variation of LWP. There are, however, no significant day-night differences and diurnal variations in cloud-droplet effective radius (re) …

Identifying Data Exchange Congestion Through Real-Time Monitoring Of Beowulf Cluster Infiniband Networks, Michael James Aguilar

Theses and Dissertations

The ability to gather data from many types of new information sources has grown quickly using new technologies. The ability to store and retrieve large quantities of data from these new sources has created a need for computing platforms that are able to process the data for information. High Performance Computing Cluster systems have been developed to fulfill a role required for fast processing of large amounts of data for many difficult types of computing applications.

Beowulf Clusters use many separate compute nodes to create a tightly coupled parallel HPCC system. The ability for a Beowulf Cluster HPCC system to …

Performance On The Repeatable Battery For The Assessment Of Neuropsychological Status (Rbans) In A Mild Traumatic Brain Injured Sample, Autumn Rose Arch

Theses and Dissertations

The majority of individuals are believed to recover within several months following a mild traumatic brain injury (MTBI). However, some individuals may continue to experience persistent symptoms including cognitive, emotional, and behavioral problems. This study compared the performance of college students with self-reported MTBI to non-head injured peers on the Repeatable Battery for the Assessment of Neuropsychological Status (RBANS) index and subtest scores using independent-samples t-tests. The Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II), State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) and Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) were also used to compare symptoms of depression, anxiety and alcohol use between groups. The results of this …

Utopian Literature And Imperialism, Musab Adnan Bajaber

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation argues that the utopian literary genre is an imperial construct that is contingent upon its imperial discourse. I argue that imperialism and utopian literature are intertwined with each other not only because of the different themes related to imperialism present in utopian literature, but also because utopian literature can only speak through imperial tropes and language. This dissertation traces the relationship between utopian literature and imperialism through the 16th, 19th, and late 20th century. The texts it discusses are More’s Utopia, Bacon’s New Atlantis, Harrington’s Commonwealth of Oceana, Bulwer-Lytton’s The Coming Race, Bellamy’s Looking Backward, Morris’ News From …

The Evolution Of Outer Space Law: An Economic Analysis Of Rule Formation, Christopher Michael Hearsey

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis comprises a study of those socio-economic dynamics that establish and influence the existence, distribution, and evolution of rules for the outer space environment. In particular, this thesis analyzes how the initial State practice of launching objects into outer space led to the genesis of rules for the outer space environment. The presentation of this thesis includes an introduction, a methodology section, three studies, and a conclusion. The first study considers the formation of initial rules for the outer space environment as a consequence of State practice using historical analysis and game theory. The second study considers how States …

Empire, Tradition, And Ideologies: The Anti-Imperialist League Of The United States 1898-1920, Andrew Faber Larson

Theses and Dissertations

The American Anti-Imperialist League began in Boston in 1898 and shortly thereafter worked to consolidate other anti-imperialist organizations in an attempt to prevent the United States from creating its first overseas empire. The League was united in its opposition to empire yet its organizational structure prevented it from becoming a truly national, and thus unified, special interest group. Early on in 1898, the League’s unity came from its appeals to preserve the traditional American foreign policies of George Washington, ideas surrounding isolation from the affairs of Europe and its focus upon the Americas in particular. The League also advocated for …

Prevalence, Statistical Trends And Phylogenetics Of Blood Parasites (Haemosporidia: Haemoproteus, Plasmodium And Leucocytozoon) In Songbird Passerines From Grasslands Of Northwest Minnesota, Danielle Kvasager

Theses and Dissertations

Passerine birds that primarily use grassland habitats are rarely the focus of a parasite study. With many rapidly declining bird populations that breed at even faster decreasing grassland habitat, it is important to know the potential risks to the birds posed by blood parasites. During the breeding seasons of 2009-2011, 150 samples from 148 individual birds (fourteen species) were collected from five grassland sites in northwest Minnesota, USA and surveyed for blood parasites using microscopy and molecular methods. Eighty-five (56.67%) of the 150 samples were infected with at least one of three haemosporidian genera: Haemoproteus, Plasmodium and Leucocytozoon. Seventy (46.67%) …

International Service Learning: Occupational Therapists' Perceptions Of Their Experiences In Guatemala, Jason C. Lawson

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this qualitative research study was to explore the perspectives of occupational therapy practitioners who engaged in international service learning (ISL) as occupational therapy students. This study included transcribed interviews and observations from nine practicing occupational therapists who all graduated from the same occupational therapy program and participated in a two-week long ISL project in Guatemala.

Case study approaches were utilized to identify the specific phenomenon being studied, and phenomenological methods were utilized to analyze the interviews and observational data into codes, categories, themes and an assertion. Following were the three themes supported by the data collected:

1. …

Regulation Of Vectorial Active Transport In Human Proximal Tubule Cells By Mt-3: The Role Of The C-Terminal Domain On E-And N-Cadherin Expression And The Confirmation Of Protein-Protein Interactions, Andrea Marie Nore

Theses and Dissertations

The proximal tubule of the kidney is particularly susceptible to toxicant-induced damage and cell cultures of human proximal tubule cells are widely utilized to study the role of epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) in renal disease. Cadmium is a toxic metal ion that is known to produce renal tubular necrosis and accumulate in the proximal tubule. This metal binds to a family of cysteine rich metal binding proteins known as metallothioneins (MT) that are found in abundance in the kidney. Previous studies from our laboratory have shown that the third isoform of metallothionein (MT-3) is expressed in the epithelial cells of the …

Syntheses And Characterization Of Bis(Amino)Cyclodiphosphazane Complexes Of Group 4- And -15 Elements, Mathew Etang Otang

Theses and Dissertations

In the first part of this work, the interaction of sodium tert-butoxide and sulfur with Group 4 metal bis(tert-butylamido)cyclodiphosph(III)azanes dichlorides, {[tBuNP)2tBuN)2]MCl2}, where M is Zr or Hf, is reported. The reaction of two equivalents of NaOtBu with {[tBuNP)2tBuN)2]MCl2}, M = Zr, Hf, resulted in the isolation of the first metal alkoxide complexes {[tBuNP)2tBuN)2]M(OtBu)2}, 35 (M =Zr) and 36 (M = Hf) of cyclodiphosphazanes. The oxidation of compounds 35 and 36 with elemental sulfur yielded {[tBuNP=S)2tBuN)2]M(OtBu)2}, 37 (M = Zr) and 38 (M = Hf), respectively. Similarly, the oxidation of {[tBuNP)2tBuN)2]MCl2}, M = Zr, Hf, with elemental sulfur led to the …

Community College Part-Time Faculty's Perceptions During Their Role Transition From Expert Clinician To Clinical Instructor, Rhoda A. Owens

Theses and Dissertations

Community college part-time nursing faculty enter academia as expert clinicians, but most have little or no training in the pedagogy of effective student learning. The purpose of this study was to use qualitative phenomenological methods to explore community college part-time nursing faculty’s perceptions of their experiences during their role transition from nurses in clinical practice to part-time clinical instructors in academia. In addition, this study explored if and how community college part-time nursing faculty developed a professional identity as clinical instructors through their experiences. The research questions were: 1. Through their experiences, how do community college part-time nursing faculty describe …

Electromagnetic Band Gap Structure Integrated Wearable Monopole Antenna For Spacesuit, Tahmid Rashid

Theses and Dissertations

Research and development of body-worn communication systems and electronics have become very prominent in recent years. Some applications include intelligent garments

equipped with wireless communication devices for sports, astronauts’ spacesuits [1], and fire fighters’ uniforms [2]. These systems are unthinkable without different kinds of body worn textile or flexible antennas. In this thesis, we will discuss the design and fabrication of a compact wearable textile antenna within the Industrial, Scientific and Medical (ISM)

band operating frequency, proposed for incorporation into a flight jacket of the astronaut inside the habitat. The antenna is integrated with artificial material known as Electromagnetic Band …

The Relationship Between A Series Of Vitamin D Levels And A Blood Glucose Level In Pregnant Women In The Upper Midwest, Jeanine Louise Senti

Theses and Dissertations

Hyperglycemia during pregnancy is associated with adverse outcomes for both mother and offspring. In order to facilitate glucose delivery to the fetus, insulin resistance increases as gestation progresses which results in hyperglycemia if the mother’s body is unable to compensate by producing adequate insulin in response to these changes in glucose metabolism. Evidence suggests that calcidiol (vitamin D) influences insulin sensitivity and glucose metabolism in the non-pregnant population yet there are inconsistent findings on the effects of calcidiol on maternal glucose levels during pregnancy. A secondary analysis was completed on a de-identified data set. The original prospective study included a …

Dopamine Transporter Phosphorylation, Palmitoylation And Membrane Localization And Mobility In Health And Disease, Madhur Shetty

Theses and Dissertations

The dopaminergic system is a regulatory system of the brain controlling various motor, cognitive and behavioral activities. Neurotransmitter dopamine (DA) plays an important role in modulating brain circuits controlling functions of this system with dopamine transporter (DAT) maintaining its homeostasis. Abnormalities in this homeostasis and/or nucleotide polymorphisms in the DAT structure leads to its association with a wide range of neurological and neuropsychiatric disorders, with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) being one of them.

Disrupting the normal function of DAT, many psychostimulants such as amphetamine (AMPH) upon being transported via DAT into the pre-synaptic neuron alters DAT properties triggering N-terminal DAT …

New Employment In Post-1990s Algeria: Are Rapidly Added Jobs Positively Affecting Economic Recovery?, Adrian Troyer

Theses and Dissertations

An apparent labor recovery success story since the turn of the century has been the reduction of Algeria’s post-war high unemployment rate. However, there are reasons to doubt the effectiveness of government programs that induced the adding of large totals of short-term, low-paying jobs, particularly following new labor legislation in December 2004. By nature, this added employment has not been genuine permanent work for the educated that might be associated with labor productivity and economic growth. We use dynamic panel models with Arellano-Bond estimators by the generalized method of moments to suggest that Algeria has not exhibited the expected positive …

The Unique N- And C-Terminal Domains Of Metallothionein-3 Influence The Growth And Differentiation Of Breast Cancer Cells, Brent Jeffrey Voels

Theses and Dissertations

Toxic insult from the heavy metal cadmium is known to induce the expression of metallothioneins (MT) which are cysteine-rich heavy metal binding proteins six to seven kilodaltons in size. Previous research demonstrates that over-expression of MT-3 occurs in the majority of breast cancers and is associated with poor patient outcome. Furthermore, MT-3 has been shown to inhibit the growth of breast cancer and prostate cancer cell lines. Studies have shown that the MT-3 protein contains 7 additional amino acids that are not present in any other member of the MT gene family, a 6 amino acid C-terminal sequence and a …