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Activation Of The Innate Immune Response By The Alzheimer's Amyloid Beta Protein Via Toll-Like Receptors, Udan Lourdes Maria

Dissertations

Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) is the most common form of neurodegenerative disease characterized by the generation and deposition of amyloid beta plaques and the formation of neurofibrillary tangles. A wealth of data now demonstrate that inflammation is a prominent feature in AD pathology and a potential therapeutic target for the treatment and prevention of the disease. The emergence of evidence linking amyloid beta protein (Aβ), the primary component of senile plaques, to inflammation has led to new insights into understanding AD pathology. Aβ, a protein fragment resulting from cleavage of human amyloid precursor protein (APP), primarily exists in two forms: a …

Development Of A Tool For Windfarm Site Analysis In Electrical Networks With High Levels Of Wind Power Generation, Edward Carroll, John Mcgrory

Dissertations

Controlling electrical networks that contain high levels of wind power will be a challenge facing many System Operators in the coming years. The intermittency and uncertainty of the power supplied by wind turbines create difficulties surrounding scheduling of plant, operating reserve and grid integration. The current process for windfarm selection is carried out by an individual stakeholder and lacks the consideration for all other stakeholders involved, which can create problems in the long term when the levels of wind power increase on the network. This paper proposes a collective approach to analysing potential windfarm sites using the key factors which …

Natural Selection On Mrna Secondary Structure And Its Correlation With Protein Functional Groups, Suresh Solaimuthu

Dissertations

Natural selection may occur at multiple levels of the biological hierarchy, including at the molecular level. It may occur on any phenotypic trait that evidences variation and that is heritable. This research uses computational methods to investigate whether the stability of the secondary structures of mRNAs has been the subject of natural selection.

The DNA sequence that codes for a particular target protein is only partially determined by that protein, since the redundancy of the genetic code permits multiple possible synonymous codons for each peptide. An RNA transcript of a DNA protein template (gene) folds back on itself through complementary …

The Public Understanding Of Climate Change : A Case Study Of Taiwanese Youth, Shih-Yun Kuo

Dissertations

Global climate change is likely to be the most challenging environmental dilemma of the 21st century because its impacts on ecosystems and human society are transnational in scale and long term in scope. Due to its high scientific complexity and uncertainty and high political and economic sensitivity, mitigating the problem will require interdisciplinary cooperation and collective and sustained efforts on the part of all nations. Sufficient domestic support from both government and the lay public will not only be significant to the success of an international climate regime, but also crucial to the effectiveness of potential domestic climate policies.

Such …

Emotional Response Patterns And Emotional Numbing In Adult Female Victims Of Sexual Assault With Ptsd, Tristan A. Robinson

Dissertations

DSM symptoms of emotional numbing appear to have a major impact on the course and outcome of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), yet the construct definition of emotional numbing itself has not been clearly established. Two opposing conceptualizations of this construct have been proposed in the traumatic stress literature. One holds numbing to be a form of non-effortful emotional avoidance, akin to dissociation, that results in diminished responsiveness to emotional stimuli in general (Foa, Zinbarg, & Rothbaum, 1992; Foa & Hearst-Ikeda, 1996). The other suggests that numbing entails a deficit in responsiveness to positive emotional stimuli but not to negative emotional …

Information Acquisition And Sociality Among Migratory Birds, Zoltán Németh

Dissertations

Information use is a key feature of adaptive behavior: the better informed an individual, the better it is able to adjust its behavior to meet the demands of a variable world. Therefore, most animals attempt to reduce environmental uncertainty by gathering information when it is available. However, tracking unpredictable ecological factors may carry costs as individuals invest valuable time and energy in the process of information acquisition. Social learning (i.e., use of social information inadvertently produced by other individuals) enables the individual to gain rapid and more complete assessment of its novel environment. This process may be particularly important for …

Influence Of Financial And Policy Environments On The Business Strategy Of Biotechnology Companies In India, Sumesh Mohan Arora

Dissertations

The biotechnology industry thrives on innovation and new knowledge creation, but is also capital intensive with a complex regulatory environment (Hine and Kapeleris 2007). It is seen as a sunrise industry by the Indian government (Natesh and Bhan 2009). Current literature on the business strategy of Indian biotechnology companies and the influence from external factors is very limited. The objective of this research was to qualitatively test the applicability of the Miles and Snow (1978) theory of organizational behavior which describes four strategy choices: prospector, analyzer, defender and reactor, in the context of the Indian biotechnology sector. Research on Western …

Monticello Rising, Charles Edward Campbell

Dissertations

Monticello Rising is a compilation of fiction accompanied by a critical preface. The pieces within were all composed during my studies at the University of Southern Mississippi’s Center for Writers between the years of 2008-2010. The collection is about aspects of growth, initiation, and loss in human relationships.

Patterns Of Diversity, Zoogeography, And Ecological Gradients In Honduran Freshwater Fishes, Wilfredo Antonio Matamoros

Dissertations

Nineteen major river drainages across Honduras were sampled from 2005-2009 in order to understand Honduran geographical patterns of freshwater fish distribution, to delineate the Honduran freshwater fishes ichthyographical provinces, and to understand patterns of species assemblage at the drainage level. A total of 166 species of freshwater fishes were sampled, a 64% increase over previously published reports. Eight species belong to primary freshwater families, 47 to secondary, and 111 to peripherals. In order to understand the species-drainages relationships, a presence-absence matrix was built for the 19 major drainages and 55 primary and secondary freshwater fishes. Correspondence and cluster analysis clearly …

Individual-Based Modeling Of White-Tailed Deer (Odocoileus Virginianus) Movements And Epizootiology, Lene Jung Kjaer

Dissertations

White-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) are important game mammals and potential reservoirs of diseases of domestic livestock, so diseases of deer are of great concern to wildlife managers. In many situations, models can be useful for integrating existing data, understanding disease transmission patterns, and predicting effects on host populations. Individual-based modeling (IBM) has become more commonplace in ecology as a tool to link individual behavior to population dynamics and community interactions, especially for gauging the effects of management actions. Spatially explicit IBMs are especially useful when ecological processes, such as disease transmission, are affected by the spatial composition of the environment. …

The Effects Of Chlordiazepoxide On Resurgence In Male Rats: A Preliminary Investigation, Marc Alden Weeden

Dissertations

Resurgence is defined as the recurrence of a previously but no longer reinforced behavior when a more recently reinforced behavior undergoes extinction. The present study investigated the effects of chlordiazepoxide (CDP), a member of the class of drugs known as benzodiazepines, on the resurgence of lever pressing responses emitted by male Sprague-Dawley rats. The general procedure was as follows: An operant (left lever presses) was reinforced and subsequently extinguished. Then, a second operant (right lever presses) was reinforced. Finally, 0, 1, 3, 10, and 30 mg/kg doses of CDP were administered via intraperitoneal injections to groups of nine animals each …

A Sequential Analysis Of Staff Training Procedures To Efficiently Teach Novice Instructors To Implement Errorless Discrete-Trial Teaching Procedures, Jamie M. Severtson

Dissertations

Discrete trial teaching (DTT) is the most common techniques incorporated into intensive behavioral intervention programs for children diagnosed with autism. Errorless learning (EL) prompt fading strategies are frequently recommended during DTT because they often result in more efficient and effective instruction. Several variables may prevent agencies from offering extensive supervised training to instructors; therefore, timeefficient DTT staff training protocols are needed. The purpose of the present study was to conduct a sequential analysis of the efficacy of three methods for teaching errorless DTT procedures to novice instructors. These methods included: (a) a self-instruction manual, (b) an instructional video, (c) and …

Grown Men, Daniel Charles Crocker

Dissertations

Grown Men is a collection of short fiction that articulates the themes of poverty, adulthood, alcoholism and faith. Some of the stories use the same characters in order to further explore place and economic and social status. Set in small towns in Missouri and Mississippi, Grown Men seeks to examine the way men deal with their changing roles when they lose their jobs, relationships and families. The collection is accompanied by a critical introduction. ii

Pattern Recognition For Fault Detection, Classification, And Localization In Electrical Power Systems, Qais Hashim Alsafasfeh

Dissertations

The longer it takes to identify and repair a fault, the more damage may result in the electrical power system, especially in periods of peak loads, which could lead to the collapse of the system, causing the power outage to extend for a longer period and larger parts of the electrical network. Reducing the outage time and immediate restoration of service can be achieved if the fault type and location are determined in a timely and precise manner.

An integrated algorithm that is based on generating unique signatures from the electric current signal to detect, classify, and localize a fault …

Algal Community Structure In Water Bodies Of Mississippi: The Role Of Environmental Factors In Its Spatial And Temporal Dynamics, Nestor Raul Anzola

Dissertations

A meta-analysis was done on studies that included six major taxa groups: Cyanobacteria, Chlorophyta, Chrysophyta (primarily diatoms), Euglenophyta, Pyrrophyta, and Rhodophyta and six aquatic habitats of Mississippi to determine the abundance and richness of the algal community and to identify relevant environmental drivers of algal assemblage composition. Twenty algae data sets on small order streams, large streams and rivers, lakes and reservoirs, fish production ponds, brackish water, and marine water were analyzed. Chlorophyta was dominant in lakes and reservoirs and was the most diverse taxa in the phytoplankton of small order streams and large streams and rivers. Cyanobacteria were the …

The Holiness And Other Stories, Leslie Michelle Nichols

Dissertations

This dissertation is a collection of an introductory essay and ten original short stories written and submitted to fiction workshops in the PhD program at The University of Southern Mississippi’s Center for Writers.

Increasing Readiness To Change Anger: A Motivational Group Intervention, Gregory Lee Futral

Dissertations

The conceptualization and treatment of problematic anger has received increased attention in the literature in recent years. Among the challenges in working with persons experiencing anger-related difficulties, barriers in forming the therapeutic alliance (Tafrate & Kassinove, 2003), resistance behaviors (DiGiuseppe, 1995), and/or low motivation to change (DiGiuseppe & Tafrate, 2007) have been commonly identified as having the potential to derail the treatment process. Strategies developed to increase treatment motivation and readiness to change, such as those found in the literature on the transtheoretical model (TTM; Prochaska & DiClemente, 1982) and motivational interviewing (MI; Miller & Rollnick, 2002), have been proposed …

Disappearing Children, Beth Lynn Couture

Dissertations

This collection of short stories is primarily concerned with the dynamic between adults and children—parents and their own children, teachers and their students, and other adult/child relationships. In each of the stories, children present a psychological or emotional challenge to the adults, one with which they are not always equipped to cope. They are a problem which cannot be solved easily, if it can be solved at all. On a formal level, the stories in this collection seek to blur the line between the mundane and the magical. Though the collection is riddled with the fantastic, at its center is …

Daimon, Miranda Foster Merklein

Dissertations

The following creative dissertation is a book of 57 poems.

The Taifa Of Denia And The Medieval Mediterranean, Travis Bruce

Dissertations

This dissertation treats the Muslim kingdom of Denia on the Spanish Mediterranean coast. Through a singular political program, the eleventh-century rulers of Denia created a maritime kingdom based on the resources and networks of the Mediterranean. Denia played a unique role as a Mediterranean polity, developing economic links with Christian Barcelona, Sardinia, Pisa and Genoa that would connect Muslim and Christian populations over several centuries. The dissertation demonstrates the importance of economics in the Muslim-Christian relations of the western Mediterranean using Latin archival documents, Latin and Arabic narrative sources, and archaeological and numismatic evidence. It explores the extent to which …

Cloud Computing For Schools, Shane O'Doherty

Dissertations

This project evaluates previous Information and Communication Technology policy and practice relating to primary schools in Ireland with a view to suggesting a better way forward in light of advances in ICT, such as the availability of fast broadband services, including fibre broadband, browser-based applications and the advent of cloud computing. Cloud computing refers to the Internet as a source of both software programs and also data retention, in effect the Internet provides the software and data services via browsers to users who may remain entirely unaware of the technology at work, uncluttered by hardware or software licensing issues or …

Inhibition Studies Of Serine Hydrolases By Cyclic Phosphates And Phosphonates, Supratik Dutta

Dissertations

The serine hydrolase superfamily is one of the largest known enzyme families comprising approximately 1% of the predicted protein product in human genome. This family of enzymes contains a catalytic triad that is mainly consists of serine, aspartic acid/glutamic acid and histidine residues in their active sites. It has been proposed that the potential drug targets for Alzheimer’s disease and diabetes type 2 are enzymes that belong to this enzyme family. Acetylcholinesterase is an enzyme that catalyses the breakdown of acetylcholine, a neurotransmitter that helps transport information from one nerve cell to another. Breakdown of acetylcholine in Alzheimer’s disease patients …

Combat Exposure, Agency, Perceived Threat, Guilt, And Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Among Iraq And Afghanistan War Veterans, Hsin-Hsin Huang

Dissertations

This study assessed how various combat experiences related to post-deployment adjustment among 289 Iraq/Afghanistan veterans. The study examined the relationships among three predictor variables (combat exposure, agency, perceived threat), one mediator (guilt), and two criterion factors (posttraumatic stress disorder/PTSD, and psychological wellbeing/PWB). It distinguished agency (e.g., firing or killing) from combat exposure (e.g., being fired at or witnessing). The study sought to: a) examine whether combat exposure differs from agency as constructs of combat experiences; b) determine the contributions of three predictors to the degree of PTSD and PWB; and c) determine whether guilt mediated the relationships between the three …

Educating For The Knowledge Age: A Collective Case Study Of Teachers’ Beliefs In A Problem Based Learning Environment, Amy Marie Ruffus Doerr

Dissertations

There is a growing trend in the business literature; education is not preparing students for the Knowledge Age. The literature further states the foundation of a successful Knowledge Economy and the production of its knowledge workers is education. Considering that the school system is a foundation for learning, it is a startling revelation that education reform has not focused more explicitly on knowledge work. If we expect to be successful in the Knowledge Age, a new conception of knowledge and learning is necessary, and will aid in the development of new knowledge workers. This further necessitates a more in depth …

Noxious Odor In Residential Environments : Coping In Reactive And Proactive Ways In Three New Jersey Communities, Maria Beatriz Yabur

Dissertations

Currently little is known about the effects of noxious odor on people's daily lives. This lack of knowledge is apparent in the rules and regulations concerning odor. This dissertation addresses this lack of knowledge by looking at the effects of current noxious odor on residents' lives in three residential communities in northern New Jersey: West Caldwell, Newark's North Ward and Garfield- Lafayette in Jersey City. The research examines the coping process residents adopt to deal with this environmental annoyance.

In this study I explore two ways residents cope with odor: reactively (trying to keep the odor out of their homes) …

Individuals Differences In Exploratory Behavior Of Prairie Voles, Microtus Ochrogaster, Danielle N. Lee

Dissertations

Individual differences in behavior are significant because they serve as the substrate for natural selection. Within the Behavioral Syndromes framework, researchers study individual differences in behavior of animals. Behavioral Syndromes are defined as correlations between behaviors in different environmental contexts or testing situations. In this study, I examined the effects of litter size and sex ratio, familial relationships, and age and sex on exploratory behavior of prairie voles, Microtus ochrogaster. Exploratory behavior, defined as spontaneous behavioral responses to unfamiliar stimuli, was examined in three novel situations: an open-field with novel objects, a two-way novel choice apparatus, and a complex maze. …

A Qualitative Study Of A Native American Mascot At "Public University", Michelle Lyn Brune

Dissertations

At the time this study began, there were approximately 60 senior colleges and universities using Native American mascots or nicknames to represent their athletic teams (Fournier, 2003). Many Native Americans, coalitions, organizations, and researchers (Connolly, 2000; Davis, 2002; King & Springwood, 2000; NCAA, 2001) believe that these mascots are racist stereotypes of Native Americans and recommend that they be banned. In contrast, other people believe that Native American mascots signify honor and tradition. Differing meanings or opinions create an obvious conflict and each viewpoint includes a set of arguments to justify their beliefs. For example, many universities claim their alumni …

Effect Of Anions On The Iron Release Pathways Of Human Serum Transferrin, Rashmi Subhash Chander Sharma

Dissertations

Transferrin, the serum iron transport protein in humans, is used to transport 30-40 mg of iron per day through blood. The accessibility of transferrin makes it an attractive target for iron cheating therapeutic agents used in the treatment of iron overload. There is an ongoing search for ligands which can accelerate the rate of iron release, as the currently approved drug DFO has a very slow rate for iron removal. Previous studies have shown that anions can accelerate the rate of iron release. Studies on the effect of anions on the rates of iron release from C-terminal monoferric transferrin at …

The Use Of A Metacognitive Tool In An Online Social Supportive Learning Environment: An Activity Theory Analysis, Ray Earl Martinez

Dissertations

This investigation is an exploratory study of the use of a metacognitive software tool in a social supportive learning environment. The tool combined metacognitive knowledge and regulation functionality embedded within the content of an eight week online graduate education course. Twenty-three learners, who were practicing teachers, used the tool. Prior knowledge of metacognition, including responses to the Metacognitive Awareness Inventory (Schraw & Dennison, 1994), was obtained. Prior knowledge of community instructional approaches was also obtained. Learner interviews focused on the mediational aspects of the metacognitive tool and the social supportive learning environment, as well as an evaluation of the tool. …

Pharmaceutical Marketing: A Comparison Of Different Markets, Paul Sherlock

Dissertations

No abstract provided.